Book Excerpt: Pruning The Acquisition Kudzu

Book Excerpt: Pruning The Acquisition Kudzu
Book Excerpt: Pruning The Acquisition Kudzu

“We are at an inflection point in national security when ‘business as usual’ and the status quo will allow China, our primary threat, to continue to advance militarily, technologically, economically, and diplomatically,” writes Arnold Punaro.

New NDIA Spin-Off Focuses On Building Next-Gen Tech Base For DoD

New NDIA Spin-Off Focuses On Building Next-Gen Tech Base For DoD
New NDIA Spin-Off Focuses On Building Next-Gen Tech Base For DoD

The institute will concentrate on artificial intelligence; autonomy; biotechnology; cyber; directed energy; command, control and communications; hypersonics; microelectronics; quantum science; space; and ‘5G to Next G.’

Defense Firms Join Wall Street, Tech Giants & Shut Hill Money Spigot

Defense Firms Join Wall Street, Tech Giants & Shut Hill Money Spigot
Defense Firms Join Wall Street, Tech Giants & Shut Hill Money Spigot

Northrop Grumman, Leidos, and Huntington Ingalls have paused political contributions, and one defense expert expects more to join in

DoD Nominations Logjam About To Break: Mattis Aide (EXCLUSIVE)

DoD Nominations Logjam About To Break: Mattis Aide (EXCLUSIVE)
DoD Nominations Logjam About To Break: Mattis Aide (EXCLUSIVE)

PENTAGON: There are a lot of empty offices around the E-ring, the most prestigious sector of the Pentagon, where top defense officials enjoy the rare privilege of windows. But that’s about to change, a senior aide to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told me. “There’s a bow wave of names that are very close to being…

Ex-CEO of Ben & Jerry’s, Fiery Marine Join Defense Business Board

Ex-CEO of Ben & Jerry’s, Fiery Marine Join Defense Business Board
Ex-CEO of Ben & Jerry’s, Fiery Marine Join Defense Business Board

WASHINGTON: What does the former CEO of Ben & Jerry’s have to teach the US military? When it comes to reforming the Pentagon’s business practices, the answer may be plenty. If you had to pick an ice cream company to partner with the Pentagon, you wouldn’t pick the notoriously (and sometimes literally) granola Ben &…

Kill Old Procurement Laws, Congress! Stackley, Punaro

Kill Old Procurement Laws, Congress! Stackley, Punaro
Kill Old Procurement Laws, Congress! Stackley, Punaro

WASHINGTON: One of the Pentagon procurement system’s top officials and one of its harshest critics sounded optimistic today that the military can improve how it buys weapons. The key, both said, is for Congress to repeal old laws that now get in the way before it writes anything new — an idea to which the…

Pressure Snowballs To Fix Pentagon Buys; Kendall Outlines Scrub Of All Acquistion Laws

Pressure Snowballs To Fix Pentagon Buys; Kendall Outlines Scrub Of All Acquistion Laws
Pressure Snowballs To Fix Pentagon Buys; Kendall Outlines Scrub Of All Acquistion Laws

WASHINGTON: Acquisition reform. It almost makes you feel good to hear those words. They connote improvement, reason and good government. But the more acquisition reform America gets from Congress and the Pentagon, it seems, the less return we get on each dollar we spend. Estimates of the cost of government oversight of Pentagon acquisition range…

Active vs. Guard: An Avoidable Pentagon War

Active vs. Guard: An Avoidable Pentagon War
Active vs. Guard: An Avoidable Pentagon War

WASHINGTON: Last year, the US Air Force fell face-first onto a buzzsaw when it proposed dramatic cuts to the Air National Guard, whose supporters raised a storm of protest in the Congress. Now there are signs that the next big budget battle will be between the regular active-duty Army and the Army National Guard. Or,…

Go Gently On Acquisition Reform, Say Wise Men

[updated 3:00 pm with Kendall comments] WASHINGTON: If history is any guide, the cuts to the defense budget will prompt a new wave of acquisition reform — and if history is any guide, we’ll get it wrong, again. Frank Kendall, the undersecretary for acquisitions, logistics, and technology, rolled out a “Better Buying Power” initiative in…

‘Put A Match To It’ And Scrap DoD’s Buying Rules: Top Pentagon Advisor EXCLUSIVE

If If the Pentagon wants to buy weapons that are delivered on time and don’t cost too much, then it should take decades of regulations, totaling thousands of pages, and “put a match to it,” the chairman of a Defense Business Board study told Breaking Defense. The best part is that’s a reform the Pentagon…

Defense Layoff Notices May Flood Nation On Eve of Election, Thanks To Sequester

WASHINGTON: Companies that do business with the federal government will have to announce “hundreds of thousands” of lay-offs just days before the November election, predicted the former Pentagon comptroller for George W. Bush. As sequestration approaches, said Dov Zakheim, the former comptroller, companies large and small will be faced with layoffs, which by law —…