How can DoD better link strategy with budget?
One of the truisms of defense management is that strategy and budgets must be connected. A “wish list” strategy that results in endless unfunded requirements […]
Politics
Is Space Force merely a Trump vanity project?
Psaki was asked Tuesday by Bloomberg White House reporter Josh Wingrove if Biden has made a decision about “keeping, or keeping the scope of, Space […]
Is Congress ready to rethink DoD oversight?
Dan Patt: Yeah. Speaking of a fresh look, we found it fascinating that in your report, you recommend changes to the budget and appropriations process to […]
Jacques Gansler’s take on congressional micromanagement
Congress has not in recent years demonstrated a willingness to delegate fiscal authority to operating managers in the DOD. On the contrary, Congress has tended […]
Congressional view of oversight and transparency needs an overhaul
I think this provides some color as to why the Air Force’s top priority programs are being cut by congressional appropriators from $302 to $158 […]
How would Michele Flournoy manage the DoD?
Central to the plan is paying for it all [Michele] Flournoy identifies “over-investing in legacy platforms and weapon systems” as the impediment. Candidate Biden, likely […]
Defense budgets under a Biden administration
Republicans have historically supported a large defense budget, and most Democrats showed earlier this year that they don’t support deep cuts either when the party’s […]
Are Appropriators blocking defense transformation?
I recommend reading a nice Breaking Defense article, Senate Appropriators Cut R&D To Buy More Weapons. The SAC-D recommended that the Air Force and Navy […]
How to hack the DoD innovation system — probably not serious
In a recent post, I argued that DoD programs require long-term predictions about costs and requirements that get locked in as a “baseline.” But once […]
Where are the Democrats on defense policy?
With the presidential election happening today, the big question (for this blog) is how defense acquisition policy will differ based on the outcomes. My view […]
Some problems with the Future of Defense Task Force report
I. Using the Manhattan Project as a model, the United States must undertake and win the artificial intelligence race by leading in the invention and […]
Senator Sullivan: DoD acquisition is one of our “biggest vulnerabilities… It’s hurting us”
Senator Tim Kaine. It might be productive for the committee to have hits and failures of recent acquisition programs and get the DOD to tell […]
The extreme pain of DoD reprogramming
The length of time between the start of budget planning and execution strains any organization’s predictive capabilities. The process effectively asks the individuals and organization […]
US policymakers must avoid the same mistakes with China that they did with the Soviets
US policy makers tend to have this view of Chinese technology policy as being long-range, strategic, and top-down. We know that the most successful parts […]
Reconsidering the DoD’s Soviet-style budget process
The Pentagon and North Korea are the last bastions of Soviet-style central planning left in the world. The Planning, Programming, and Budget System (PPBS) system […]