Defense Initiative Brings on Wilson, Positions Itself in Face of Cutbacks (State House News)

By Michael Norton
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, SEPT. 22, 2011……An initiative built around promoting the region’s defense technology sector added former University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson to its team Thursday as industry officials try to protect jobs from potential cuts in federal spending tied to ramped-down military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and overall belt tightening in Washington.

Wilson was named chairman of the Defense Technology Initiative (DTI), which focuses on making New England more competitive for defense firms, research universities and military installations. Also appointed to the group's leadership team were Fred Strader, president and CEO of Textron Systems Corp. in Wilmington and Lisa Aucoin, director of soldier solutions at BAE Systems in Hudson, N.H.

According to Chris Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, which is DTI’s parent organization, Massachusetts and its New England neighbors are trying to position themselves and innovative defense technology as best as possible amid the threat of spending cuts and another round of potential base closures.

In addition to the expectation of less spending on wartime efforts, Anderson said the industry is mindful that defense spending could be jolted if the so-called super committee, which includes Sen. John Kerry, fails to reach agreement on $1.5 trillion in long-term deficit reduction measures this fall.

“There’s going to be a decline anyhow,” Anderson said. “The question is, ‘How do we position ourselves against those declines more favorably than other regions of the United States?’ ”

Anderson said he believed the “conventional wisdom” was that super committee members would end up deadlocked, which would trigger immediate spending cuts. To prepare for that possibility, Anderson said the DTI leaders will soon furnish Kerry with a top-line summary of a study being conducted by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute examining the impact of the defense sector in the region.

The super committee faces a Nov. 23 deadline to vote on recommendations for $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction measures, with Congress needing to vote on the committee bill by Dec. 23 and $1.2 trillion in spending cuts scheduled to be triggered in January 2012 if the committee’s bill has not been approved.

A December 2010 Donahue Institute report found the defense industry supported more than 115,000 jobs in Massachusetts in 2009, attracted $15.6 billion of all federal contract dollars awarded to Massachusetts, and that the value of defense contracts awarded to firms here had soared from $5.5 billion in 2001.

Wilson stepped down from the UMass presidency this summer. He takes over the DTI chairmanship from Michael Lewis of BAE Systems. Wilson serves as president emeritus of UMass and is a professor there. Wilson was president of UMass from 2003 until 2011.

“With the nation’s fiscal and economic realities posing potential challenges to the region’s defense and research sectors, DTI’s work is now more important than ever,” Wilson said in a statement.  “I look forward to working with Fred, Lisa, Chris and the entire team to advance an agenda to create an even more dynamic defense technology cluster and enhance the region’s contribution to the mission of the U.S. military.”