DoD acquisition policy is undermining the DIB- this puts every aspect of US military and tech power at risk

President of Etherton and Associates, a consulting and lobbying firm specializing in defense acquisition, industrial base, and cybersecurity policy; Communications Manager at the Acquisition Research Program at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS); The Slow Destruction of the Defense Industrial Base; Acquisition Research Program Department of Defense Management Naval Postgraduate School; Excerpt from the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Acquisition Research Symposium; Acquisition Research: Creating Synergy for Informed Change May 11–12, 2022

The National Security Innovation and Industrial Base (NSIB) is the bedrock upon which American military strength is built.1 This national security base draws its strength from the economic powerhouse that is the U.S. economy. In recent years, however, a strange and disturbing trend has emerged. The NSIB is becoming detached from the greater U.S. economic base. Specifically, in a departure from most of U.S. history, much of the domestic economic engine—private industry—is choosing not to work with the federal government in general, and the Department of Defense (DoD) in particular. This drifting of private industry is occurring precisely at a time that the federal government increasingly relies on commercial technologies. The pace of technological change is accelerating every year, and we have known for decades that the DoD needs to better align business practices with those of the private sector to reap the benefits of commercial innovation. In 1995, the Clinton administration released the policy document Dual-Use Technology: A Defense Strategy for Affordable, Leading-Edge Technology, the technology strategy corresponding to acquisition reform outlined in the Federal Acquisition and Streamlining Act of 1994. This strategy ambitiously set out to mirror defense business processes around commercial practices to make it easier to incorporate commercial technology into defense programs. Then Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Paul Kaminski (1995) detailed the need for the DoD to “place greater reliance on the commercial sector to reduce costs, shorten acquisition cycle times and retain technologically advanced defense equipment.” More recently, the 2018 National Security Strategy noted that “Technologies that are part of most weapon systems often originate in diverse businesses as well as universities and colleges” (The White House, 2018, p. 21). Many DoD purchases incorporate or depend on commercial technologies such as cloud computing, software, and other information technology (IT) capabilities. In 2022, the DoD’s list of 14 critical technology areas vital to national security identified only three that are defense-specific (hypersonics, directed energy, and integrated sensing and cyber). The vast majority of critical technologies on this list are either the result of “existing vibrant commercial sector activity” (Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, 2022, p. 4) or emerging technologies being developed in the private sector or in collaboration with the DoD. Some of the commercial technologies identified are artificial intelligence, autonomy, microelectronics, space technology, advanced computing and software, and human-machine interfaces (pp. 3–6). Despite this reliance on commercial capabilities, defense acquisition and business processes continue to become more complex, more heavily regulated, and out of synch with the private sector. The consequences of this trend for U.S. military strength are considerable. The DoD and other national security agencies are not leveraging the most advanced technologies and capabilities the commercial markets have to offer – but many of our competitors and potential adversaries are. Start-ups have access to global capital and markets, innovation is diversifying across borders, and technology development in areas relevant to the military is proliferating. The U.S. failure to leverage commercial industry is a recipe for losing our military, cyber, and intelligence advantages.