Dr. Paul Kaminski’s long career working at the forefront of defense and aerospace technology has taken him from designing stealth planes to fostering technological innovations through his own company, Technovation, Inc.
Last week, President George W. Bush presented Kaminski with the National Medal of Technology, the nation’s highest award for technological achievement. Established by an act of Congress, the medal recognizes those "whose vision, intellect, creativity and sheer determination have made profound and lasting contributions" to American life. He is this week’s People Profile.
How long have you lived in the community and what brought you here? I’ve lived here for 15 years. I’ve actually lived in the overall area for about 30 years. I came here in 1976 from Los Angeles. I was on active duty in the Air Force and I was assigned here in Washington for a year. Then I came to work for the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. I worked there for about five years, and then spent about four years as director of their stealth program. I left active duty and went into private business with a person who was then-Undersecretary of Defense, Bill Perry. He later became Secretary of Defense. He and I have been business partners for about 25 years. I was in private business for 10 years, a technology strategy and investment banking business. He came back to be Deputy Secretary of Defense during the Clinton administration. When the Secretary left, Les Aspin, Bill was asked to be Secretary. My plan was to stay and run the business, but when he was asked to be Secretary, he called and said, "Help!" So I agreed to come back and serve as Undersecretary of Defense for three years, and then back into private business for 10 years.
Activities/interests/hobbies: My mix of activities today consists of my strategy and consulting business, a company called Technovation. Next, I serve on eight or nine company boards. I serve on three or four boards here in Washington, Exostar, a board I chair; In-Q-Tel, a venture catalyst firm funded by the CIA; and CoVant, a successor to a company named Anteon which did very well here. Anteon was a company acquired by General Dynamics. My third activity is I serve on several company advisory boards. I serve on the FBI Director’s Advisory Board, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence advisory board, the National Reconnaissance advisory board and the Defense Science Board and two other classified boards. And I leave time for some fun, we have a summer home in northeast Pennsylvania. It’s very comfortable in the summer there. I’m president of the country club. We live in a little county in Pennsylvania that has one traffic light, so that’s a great contrast to Fairfax County.
Family: My wife Julie and I have two children. We have a son named Garrett who lives in Fairfax, near Robinson, and he’s a software engineer for a company named Khaki; we have a daughter, Laura, who lives in Linden, just 10 miles this side of Front Royal. She is a full-time mother to our two grandchildren and her husband works for Lockheed Martin.
Education: I went undergrad to the Air Force Academy, and then got two master’s degrees at MIT: one in electrical engineering and one in aeronautics and astronautics, and later got a Ph.D. at Stanford. I spent that whole career in high technology and innovative activities of one sort or the other.
What drew you to a career in high technology? I started young with an interest in engineering. I was about 5-years-old when I began taking apart the family dining-room table with my toolkit. I’ve always enjoyed designing and building things.
When did you first hear about receiving the National Medal for Technology? I had a first inkling to the possibility of this award maybe a month ago when I was asked to supply information for another FBI check. But I didn’t find out officially about the award until maybe two weeks before. People were tearing their hair out trying to prepare, usually they have a longer notice. This is a congressionally-established award.
Over your career, what is the accomplishment you are most proud of? The greatest single one probably was my work in the stealth program. Seeing the opportunity and coordinating the building of the F-117, preparing the path for the B-2. I started a major program, which is still active in the U.S., called stealth and counter-stealth. One of our main concerns was that the technology was so powerful, what would happen if somebody were to use it against us? I took a few percent of my budget and spent it carefully.
What has been the biggest challenge in your career? One of the biggest challenges is always taking a good idea or promising technology and actually getting it to work, getting through all the problems and issues that come up. One of all the things I have found through the years to be successful in doing that, to actually make something happen, is what I call the "Four P’s." If you don’t have all four of these P’s, it’s not going to be successful. First and probably the most important of these P’s stands for "people." Getting the right team of people, the right background, the right diversity of experience and ideas to make something happen. The next P you have to have stands for "partnership," having those people despite their diversity be able to see and focus on a common objective. The next P stands for "processes," you have to have some means to keep integrity intact and to let everybody know what the criteria is for success, and what the criteria is for rejection. The last P stands for "persistence," since almost nothing works the first time.
Community concerns: I see a very robust economic and financial base here, a good university in the area … We’re very well-served by [George Mason University] and I think that’s going to keep our technical base alive and well here. If I had a concern about the community in the area, my concern is probably the same as most people’s — the overall traffic and commuting situation in the area, which I think is going to get worse faster than we can deal with it. We need to be taking aggressive action. Everything else about this community is very positive. You know we’re sitting on these 5-acre lots here in this development, and it’s the kind of place where you typically wouldn’t know your neighbors. We have the most wonderful set of neighbors, we know most of our neighbors and we get together here for dinners.
Community "hidden treasure:" I think George Mason is one of our really strong hidden treasures, and it’s amazing, I don’t think many people realize the size or the capability of that university.
What is the last book you read? The last one I read was "Open Business Systems." I wouldn’t describe it as fun, leisurely reading, but I was reading it to help a couple companies I’m working with open up their horizons a little bit to the modern intellectually property world we’re living in, and how to leverage their intellectual property to be able to buy, sell and trade it.
If you could go on a road trip anywhere in the U.S., where would you go? I’d probably go back and spend a little more time in Alaska. We did a land variety trip, we have some friends in Alaska. I have a classmate from the Air Force Academy, a good friend who’s an orthopedic surgeon, and he owns his own float plane. We have another set of friends who live on the Kenai Peninsula on the Kenai River, which is one of the best sport-fishing rivers in the world.
Personal goals: One is to begin to wind down a little bit, to enjoy some more time with family and leisure activities. Another is to continue to give back to the country, with advisory boards and things I serve on. Also, to do some mentoring with younger people who have things to contribute, maybe in some of the ways I did.
— Lea Mae Rice