Leggat bows out at DND after 38-year career capped by strong S&T leadership

Dr John Leggat, ADM S&T at National Defence, CEO of Defence R&D Canada and one of the federal S&T community’s most effective advocates for change, is leaving the public service. Leggat is ending a 38-career with the Defence department this month and will join Ottawa-based consulting firm CFN Consultants as an associate this September.

Leggat leaves at a time when federal S&T appears to be overcoming critical cultural and political hurdles that have stymied previous efforts to revive the often-neglected sector. According to the latest data, funding for federal labs has increased 30% over the past 10 years and many science-based departments and agencies are re-aligning their activities with a greater emphasis on outputs.

In addition to his DND positions, Leggat was also extremely active in the wider federal S&T community, taking leadership positions in the ADM S&T Committee, the Integration Board and the Council for Science and Technology Advisors as an ex-officio member. He also led the ultimately unsuccessful push to establish Federal Innovation Networks of Excellence program, although it did help to pave the way for the Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear Research and Technology Initiative (CRTI) (R$, July 1/05).

“The outlook is good for federal S&T. Not stellar, but moving in the right direction,” says Leggat. “The nice thing about federal S&T now is that it seems to be more spontaneous. It’s much easier than a few years ago. There’s been a cultural shift and a recognition of cross-cutting issues.”

But Leggat notes that recent federal funding increases have been largely tied to specific programs, ignoring the deteriorating state of many federal laboratories across the country. A recent inventory of federal S&T infrastructure reveals that about half needs to be replaced.

“We have a federal laboratory system with good programs but with an old and less relevant foundation,” he says. “We need a more balanced or perhaps entirely different approach to deal with federal labs.”

At DND, Leggat will be replaced on an acting basis by Dr Robert Walker, DG R&D Programs at DRDC for July and Dr Malcolm Vant, DRDC’s DG, for August.

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