Two good points on the state of Defense Innovation Unit

Here’s an article from Bill Greenwalt in Breaking Defense which cuts through the go-along-to-get-along commentary on defense innovation ecosystem. Here’s point number one:

Established by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter in 2015, DIU (then DIUx) would be the bridge to the creative destruction, decentralization, and the innovation incentives residing in the non-defense portion of the private sector. It was no accident that DIU reported directly to the secretary, in order to escape the torrent of bureaucracy and corrupting influences that underline the defense acquisition system. In hindsight, DIU was probably given a death sentence several years later when Secretary Jim Mattis moved it from a direct report to being under the Undersecretary for Research and Engineering (R&E).

Point number two:

An absolutely nonsensical formal notice and application process, reminiscent of how to fill a GS-9 analyst position, was recently announced by R&E to fill the spot. Past DIU directors were individually recruited by the administration and hired using the Highly Qualified Expert exemption to federal personnel rules. No substantive CEO type is going to fill out an SF-171 equivalent or send in his or her resume to apply for a government job. It’s enough to make one wonder if the convoluted search process isn’t set up specifically so that the types of people that will respond are precisely the ones who will be uniquely unqualified for the job. It boggles the mind that the Biden administration doesn’t know a single good Silicon Valley veteran that it can reach out to directly and entice into serving.

Even if they went after another CEO, I’m sure most people can see the writing on the wall. So it would require a renewed commitment and perhaps most importantly a sizable budget. People have talked about 10x-ing DIU, even in Congress. But there’s a bit of a credibility problem unless the 10x-ing comes first.

I think DIU has the staff to continue doing good work for a while at its current level, but in two or four years who knows what will happen.