Carlos Del Toro, secretary of the Navy and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, has established a new office tasked with providing independent, data-driven assessments and recommendations on developing guiding principles and priorities to advance the lethality of the naval force.
Cara LaPointe, former co-director of the Institute for Assured Autonomy at Johns Hopkins University, will head the Department of the Navy Office of Strategic Assessment, or DON OSA, as director, the Navy said Monday.
LaPointe is a former naval surface warfare officer with over two decades of experience in national security, technology policy and Navy leadership.
Her Navy career includes roles such as deputy technical director of the littoral combat ship program and chief of staff to the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for unmanned systems.
She was also an expert adviser for global emerging technology initiatives at the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and a member of the DON Science and Technology Board.
Under her leadership, the DON OSA will help drive the service branch’s current readiness investments and future modernization efforts to maintain its global competitiveness.
“Data-driven assessments looking strategically across the entire DON enterprise in support of the Joint Force will help us make smarter choices as we balance investments in current readiness and future modernization in order to enhance the Department’s competitiveness against the pacing threat,” Del Toro said.
