Ash Carter's appeal to Silicon Valley: We're 'cool' too Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/ash-carter-silicon-valley-appeal-117293.html#ixzz3YF4CdANL

Defense Secretary Ash Carter often warns about budget shortfalls in Washington. Here, he’s facing a coolness shortfall.

Carter on Thursday launched a major new Defense Department effort to partner with Silicon Valley tech companies, but many of the players he is courting in the office parks south of San Francisco prize a currency in which even his institution, with a $560 billion budget, is decidedly light. 

“To be relevant in today’s world, you have to have a coolness factor,” Carter told reporters traveling with him. “We want that.”

So the physicist-turned-Pentagon chief, who spent some of 2014 advising tech companies here, pitched the Pentagon to Silicon Valley in a major speech at Stanford University.

Read the full article at POLITICO.