A key lawmaker said Wednesday he’s concerned that the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is restricting the role of the Pentagon’s internal think tank, the Office of Net Assessment (ONA), to prevent it from questioning whether the U.S. military is headed in the right direction.
ONA is an independent organization within the Defense Department charged with identifying emerging or future threats and opportunities for the United States, according to a DoD statement. To do so, ONA develops and coordinates net assessments of the standing trends and future prospects of the military capabilities and potential of the United States in comparison with the military capabilities and potential of other countries or groups of countries. 
House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Seapower and Projection Forces Chairman Randy Forbes (R-Va.) accused OSD of restricting ONA’s focus to short-term threats instead of what he characterized as its “traditional” focus 10, 15 or 20 years into the future. Forbes said decision making, whether in Congress or at the Pentagon, is tough business, and that it’s valuable to have someone asking if the United States is truly headed in the right direction.
“Sometimes [it’s like] we want to fight to make sure there’s nobody there asking the question: are we sure we’re going in the right direction,” Forbes said during a Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments presentation on Capitol Hill. “I think we are headed more for that.”
ONA is in a transition period as Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in May appointed James Baker to serve as director, replacing longtime chief Andrew Marshall, who retired in January after 42 years of service with DoD. The Pentagon said in a mid-May statement that Baker is currently the principal deputy director of strategic plans and policy, J-5, and is the strategist to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Army Gen. Martin Dempsey. Baker will report directly to Carter.
DoD spokeswoman Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson on Wednesday said Carter wants Baker to help him think about the long-term consequences of near-term policy decisions. Henderson said Carter wants ONA’s work to remain future-focused, but ensure that ONA’s work has present relevance.
A congressional source told Defense Daily Wednesday in an email that Carter has talked about making ONA more focused on day-to-day issues and less on its traditional strength: outside-the-box, “very-long-term” thinking. The source said Forbes’ camp doesn’t want to see that change.
Language in the fiscal year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requires the defense secretary to establish and maintain an independent organization within DoD to develop and coordinate net assessments of the standing, trends and future prospects of the military capabilities and potential of the United States in comparison with the military capabilities and potential of other countries or groups of countries, so as to identify emerging or future threats or opportunities for the United States.
The NDAA also says the head of this independent office shall report directly to the defense secretary without intervening authority and may communicate views on matters within the responsibility of the office directly to the defense secretary without obtaining the approval or concurrence of any other official within the Pentagon.
The congressional source said ONA’s independence will help ensure it remains focused on long-term challenges and that Forbes’ camp is waiting to see where ONA is headed under its new leadership. Another source with experience working with ONA told Defense Daily on Wednesday he was told “things might be different here” with Marshall retired.