Before there was a 3rd offset, there was Harold Brown

Airmen prepare a B-2 Spirit aircraft for flight at Pease Air National Guard Base, New Hampshire, Sept. 20, 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Hastings)

In today’s Pentagon, the buzzwords are “innovation,” “replicator,” and “deterrence by denial.” Defense leaders speak of creating thanks to advances in AI, autonomy, hypersonic and quantum technologies, an approach that was previously termed the “Third Offset Strategy.” But before that term existed, there was Harold Brown — a physicist...