{"id":1530384,"date":"2025-04-15T03:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T07:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1530384"},"modified":"2025-04-15T03:25:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T07:25:00","slug":"hegseths-memo-what-to-do-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/hegseths-memo-what-to-do-next\/1530384\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth’s Memo, What To Do Next"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hegseth’s Memo, What To Do Next<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Tim Ray & Jim Smith via RealClearDefense<\/a>,<\/em><\/p>\n

As DOGE\u2019s eye shifts to the Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth calls on his defense leaders to accelerate their workforce and recapitalization plans<\/a> by the end of the week,<\/strong> our national security ecosystem has an unprecedented opportunity to radically restructure and set itself not for yesterday\u2019s wars, but tomorrow\u2019s security.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

To seize the moment, DOGE and Secretary Hegseth’s team have many reform options at their disposal: streamline bureaucratic processes, overhaul acquisitions, and double down on innovation.<\/strong> These are logical improvements. Many are essential. But like fixing an aircraft mid-flight, time is the defining performance indicator. And it is a sense of urgency, agility, and adaptability that will enable America\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

Yet, crucially, outpacing an adversary does not require out-spending them. <\/strong>Apple defeated Nokia with quick design cycles focused on the user experience, despite Nokia spending nearly ten times more on R&D. Outspending creates an impressive collection of capabilities, but, a sustained competitive advantage requires a relentless focus on outcomes, not just capabilities.<\/p>\n

The post-Cold War era demanded neither sufficient urgency nor flexibility from defense contractors and industrial base. Industry was comfortable and gave the country most of what it needed under cost-plus contracts at congressionally mandated 10 to 12 percent profit margins. Cost overruns and delays were tolerated and helped increase profits.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When budgets stopped expanding, consolidation resulted. The infamous 1993 \u201cLast Supper\u201d dinner meeting held by then Deputy Defense Secretary William Perry encouraged defense contractors to consolidate to maintain profits. They did. And the number of major contractors went from more than fifty to five. Agility, innovation, and responsiveness evaporated in the process.<\/p>\n

Less was not more<\/strong>. The 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) articulated this point when it envisioned a broader National Security Industrial Base (NSIB) as a \u201cnetwork of knowledge, capabilities, and people\u2014including academia, National Laboratories, and the private sector\u2014that turns ideas into innovations [and] transforms discoveries into successful commercial products.\u201d This articulates the whole-of-nation approach to national security that has always given the U.S. its advantage.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Great power competitions \u2013 be it between nation states or rival companies \u2013 are won by those that out-pace their adversaries. Advancing capabilities at a rapid pace leaves adversaries \u2018playing catchup,\u2019 trying to understand and then react. Consider Amazon, innovating quickly to stay ahead of large, capable retailers like Walmart who continually scramble to gain online market share.<\/p>\n

No single company can provide what is needed across all categories of defense. Just as one athlete cannot win gold in every sport. Existing and new participants are needed, including entrepreneurs, boot-strapped independent companies, venture-backed companies, research and academic institutions, and close allied partners. A full-range of on-ramps are also needed for new partners to enter the ecosystem\u2014including the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC), innovation hubs like SOFWERX and AFWERX, DoD and academic laboratories, and agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from which so much important innovation has come.<\/p>\n

Achieving next-generation overmatch capability isn’t merely about more innovation from the commercial sector. In a world where invention quickly becomes commoditized, getting leverage out of new technology to gain competitive advantage requires an investment in the human capital and institutional capacity needed to quickly operationalize and scale these technologies.<\/strong> As the NDS also stated, “Success no longer goes to the country that develops a new technology first, but rather to the one that better integrates it and adapts its way of fighting.” \u00a0And the flexibility to drive this critical adaptation must be placed firmly in the hands of the Services and Commanders in the field\u2014those directly responsible for navigating the complex and uncertain security environment ahead.<\/p>\n

Industry must be measured on how fast they can deliver real-world results, not how well they check the boxes of a static requirements document (which they often help write). The risks of underdelivering and overspending are best mitigated by embracing a minimum viable product (MVP) mindset that focuses on rapidly fielding operating prototypes, and continually improving and adapting them. These are hallmarks of modern software development, but the mindset has a place in even the largest hardware-focused projects as well.<\/p>\n

Secretary Hegseth gave until last Friday for defense leaders to submit their recapitalization plans\u2014a date that underscores the urgency of this moment. If speed and agility become the driving forces behind America\u2019s defense strategy, industry collaboration, and acquisition processes, the United States will decisively outpace its adversaries to win tomorrow\u2019s conflicts before they begin<\/strong>. The signal flare has gone up, the opportunity to deliver capabilities faster, cheaper, and more effectively is not only possible\u2014it is imperative. We agree with the Secretary that the time to act is now.<\/p>\n

General Tim Ray<\/strong> (USAF, ret.) is the former Commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, who today serves as the President and CEO of Business Executives for National Security (BENS). Jim Smith<\/strong> is President of TheIncLab and member of the BENS Board of Directors.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nMon, 04\/14\/2025 – 23:25<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/hegseths-memo-what-do-next<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hegseth’s Memo, What To Do Next Authored by Tim Ray & Jim Smith via RealClearDefense, As DOGE\u2019s eye shifts to the Department of Defense and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1530385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1530384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1530384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1530384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1530384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1530385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1530384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1530384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1530384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}