Pentagon brass pitched value of Massachusetts companies
Edd Cote
Natick Soldier Systems Center that has tested portable wastewater systems like this one, which help troops re-use more water in the field, is among the kinds of companies that state officials highlighted during a Pentagon visit last week.
Gov. Charlie Baker, a handful of lawmakers and others from state government met Friday with officials from the Pentagon to highlight the Bay State's contributions to the Department of Defense.
About 30 Defense officials, including the chief information officers from each entity within the department, visited Massachusetts last week to get a sense of the state's "placement within the innovation and defense economies," Rep. Harold Naughton said.
"We want these people to know what an integral part Massachusetts plays in that area and to bring more contracts here, more government information and technology development here and to continue to support the corporations that are already here," Naughton, a U.S. Army Reserves major who recently returned from a deployment to the Middle East, said after the meeting at the State House.
Last Thursday, the group from the Pentagon toured MIT's Lincoln Laboratory, Hanscom Air Force Base, the MITRE Corporation, and participated in a forum to discuss cyber security issues.
"We have the brain power," Rep. Jerald Parisella, a veteran of the Army Reserves, said. "We may not have the natural resources of oil and gas but we have the greatest brainpower in the world, and the folks at DoD can tap into that here in Massachusetts."
Baker declined to comment on the meeting as he walked to another military-related event Friday, but others who attended the meeting said they hope the talks sewed the seed of future collaboration between the Pentagon and Massachusetts corporations.
"The key here is for Massachusetts to show all the tremendous institutions we have here, both higher ed and medical," Sen. Michael Rush, a U.S. Navy Reserve officer, said. "To have this fluid conversation always going on to highlight the tremendous assets that Massachusetts has is really important to the longevity of the state's economy."
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