Meet The Ambassador

Opening of  the International Technology Center (ITC), Pacific: Remarks by Ambassador Frank Lavin
September 1, 2004

Good afternoon and welcome to today’s ceremony, the formal opening of the International Technology Center, Pacific. Let me welcome our Singapore guests, in particular Mr. P.Y. Tan and Mr. Koh Kok Keng, (Deputy Director, Defence Technology & Resources). From the American side, we are grateful for the presence of Brigadier General Nadeau and Colonel Ryles. And to the Embassy family, thank you for showing your support.

On one level, it is easy to understand why the United States Army has selected Singapore to host this center. Both countries are S&T-oriented. Both countries are serious about security, with highly capable militaries. And the sizeable degree of military cooperation across a range of projects and disciplines makes our S&T cooperation that much easier. Singapore is now in select company from a U.S. perspective, because in all of Asia, only Japan and Australia host similar centers.

Beyond these strong fundamentals, we also have the living example of our current S&T cooperation. Stationing people abroad for S&T programs is not common practice for the U.S. military, but the Office of Naval Research and Naval Bureau of Medicine both established a presence in Singapore. For the past four years, these two offices have established bilateral forums for the exchange of technical information.

We set up forums at the Ministerial level and one between our Navies. They were so successful that we set up similar forums between our Armies, our Air Forces -- and even a second Navy forum. Now, within four years of the initial experiment, we are very close to completing agreements on three additional forums.

In addition to the forums, we also started Project Agreements and Information Exchange Agreements to help engineers and scientists share research, and to develop and test models and prototypes. We now have seven Projects and eighteen Exchange Agreements, tremendous growth in just four short years.

One example of these projects is SPARTAN, an unmanned, sea-based sensor and weapon system that will help Singapore and the U.S. deal better with threats such as small boats and mines.

So we have a successful history of S&T cooperation. The Navy was first off the mark and the Army has a chance to catch up. If that doesn’t inspire you to get going, nothing will. Thanks to Colonel Ryles’ vision and direct support from General Nadeau, we will now have in the ITC, Pacific, an Army initiative that should be as strong or stronger than the other existing programs.

On the Army side, our teams will be working on a variety of advanced research projects to help the war fighter of the future. As befits a partnership approach, both sides have agreed to equal funding. This project will focus on Mechanized Air Assault, Unmanned Air Vehicles, Coalition Tactical Command and Control, and Multi-Spectral Goggles. The ITC will now take the lead on the U.S. side to ensure success.

In closing, let me take a moment to mention our ITC leadership. Lieutenant Colonel Matt Poe is an Army Signal Corps Officer who specializes in Information Technology systems. He comes to us from Korea, where he supported the command and control system used by the U.S. and Republic of Korea Forces. His experience in research, development and acquisition will be invaluable to the success of the office. Colonel Poe also brings a wonderful family with him to Singapore. I’m sure they will enjoy their tour in Singapore.

Matt, welcome aboard. You have a big job ahead of you, with enormous potential. To be successful, your activities must pull together foreign governments, industry and academia. This assignment will challenge you to harness the technology, expertise and resources in these areas to the benefit of our two countries.

There is also a challenge for the Singapore side, isn’t there? Because no matter how hard Colonel Poe works, it will not amount to anything unless there is equal responsiveness from Singapore. But my message to General Nadeau was: rest assured. If there are two things Singapore takes very seriously, it is technology and security. Since ITC marries these two, we can fully expect a high degree of support from our Singapore friends. There is plenty of work to do, because it takes a while just to sort through the many possible areas of cooperation. But there is no doubt in my mind this initiative will be successful in the end.

Again, I would like to thank everyone for coming today and I am excited about our prospects. I congratulate the U.S. Army for its foresight in opening this office. I would now like to invite Brigadier General Nadeau to the podium for his remarks.

Thank You