MODERNIZING ARMY MODERNIZATION
from July 2010 to May 2013 and now heads BMNT, a consulting firm in Palo Alto, California, that connects DOD and corporations with cutting-edge Silicon Valley problem-solvers.
First, he said, “Tey have to have the authority to write and modify require- ments. I personally think that they have to have the mandate to find problems and articulate them before they write anything.” Te REF director has the authority to approve requirements, New- ell noted, an authority handed down from the Army G-3.
Next, “Tey need experienced warfight- ers, as well as experienced contracting officers who understand the
technolo-
gies that they’re going to be responsible for putting on the contract. Tey need acquisition officers who are agile, who understand innovation.”
What the command should not look like, Newell added, is the first version of the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, which, he said, DOD established “with a big fanfare … [but with] no people and no credit card and no authority. I hope they understand that they’re not actually gonna get it right until they’ve done a half-dozen or 20 or 30 things. Tey need breathing space to get the metrics they will be graded on right.”
“What the country really needs, and par- ticularly DOD, is a much longer focus in building the apparatus they need to do things right,” he said.
Paul Scharre, senior fellow and director for technology and national security at the Center for a New American Security, testified Jan. 30 before the House Armed Services Committee that “the U.S. mili- tary is not ready for the threats we face today.” He said in prepared testimony
14 QUICK LIKE SPECIAL FORCES
Soldiers open fire on an enemy vehicle during a U.S. Army Special Operations Command exercise in June 2017 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Experimentation and technical demonstrations will involve Soldiers to determine if a proposed solution works, which Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley describes as a “shift to a SOCOM-like model of buy, try, decide and acquire.” (Photo by Michael Bottoms, U.S. Special Operations Command Office of Communication)
“Time will tell, of course, if the desired results emerge. But these are the largest confluence of changes I have seen in my entire acquisition career.” —John T. Dillard
Army AL&T Magazine
April-June 2018
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