IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2021 - 62

AESS Historical Interview With Dr. Catherine Warner

Dr. Warner in a Princeton laboratory (left). Dr. Warner conducting fieldwork for the Institute for Defense Analyses, U.S. Army Fort Benning,
GA (right).

within DoD and Congress, but also hands-on engagement
with actual practitioners. For example, with a team of dedicated statisticians, I developed and provided training and
assistance to the Services and DoD personnel in the use of
advanced statistical methods to develop more efficient test
programs and more credible evaluations of system performance; in particular, we developed four specific courses on
the subjects of Design/Analysis of Experiments, Survey
Design, Cybersecurity T&E, and Reliability Growth. I
implemented a roadmap that included education, training,
policy/guidance, case studies, and an advisory board. The
parts of the roadmap concerning education and training provide examples of how I was able to influence the composition of the workforce with respect to STEM qualifications.
Initially, the T&E workforce did not employ many personnel with degrees in STEM or advanced degrees at all. Our
training efforts were focused on these personnel and
included establishment of a research consortium at four universities to provide online certification programs and also
graduate-level research with an emphasis on statistical problems unique to operational T&E. This effort resulted in a
pipeline of graduates with knowledge of T&E and advanced
statistical methods appropriate for employment throughout
the nation's T&E community. Over my tenure, despite a
decrease in the overall employment in the T&E staff, the
numbers of civilian personnel with advanced degrees grew
by over 100%.
Paolo: I read from your CV that you served also in
Afghanistan collaborating with both the NATO and the
Afghan government. How was this experience?
Catherine: In 2013, at the request of the Defense
Information Systems Agency (DISA), I voluntarily
deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan, to support the NATO
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). During
this deployment, I served as the Senior Telecommunications Advisor directly advising the Afghan Minister of
62

Communications and Information Technology. I led a
team of about ten information technology specialists in
the country with some consultants and contractors for
reach-back advice. In this setting, my ability to work with
disparate groups of people were key to efforts in areas
such as the use of cellular networks within the Afghan
security forces for counter-improvised explosive device
reporting, national emergency call centers; salary transfers
to security forces in remote locations; and applications for
distance learning. My time in Afghanistan was highly
rewarding and life-changing; in particular, I was drawn to
efforts that supported the advancement of women in society. The new-founded Afghan government had established
mandatory thresholds for women in political office, but the
average Afghan woman could not read or write and normally was not allowed to be seen by anyone outside her
family. The outreach programs we were able to establish
using the cellular network made a difference-literacy
training on the mobile phone for women who were not
allowed to go to classes at night; telemedicine access for
pregnant women in remote locations; and call centers
where women could get advice on their family situation or
abusive relationships were among the significant improvements we made in giving women in Afghanistan better
access to participation in their society.
Additionally, I found working with my NATO colleagues to be broadening. Our collaboration was important
in order to adapt our methods (spectrum management,
cyber security) to the Afghan government's structure so
that they could sustain operations after we left. My experience in Afghanistan along with my long-held dedication
to public service for peace and security aligns with that of
the NATO Alliance and made me want to explore opportunities to serve in the NATO organization.
Paolo: Finally, you have been appointed as the Director of the NATO Science and Technology Organization

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MARCH 2021

IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2021

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