The President Orders a Defense Reformation
On Wednesday, while everyone was watching the stock market, President Trump issued an executive order that announced the beginning of a different, seismic revolution.
The order, titled “Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base,” ushers in a new era of defense acquisition that aims to correct years of cultural drift and lethargy. This president and his administration have made it clear they are not doing business as usual. They understand the urgency of the moment, the stakes of defeat, and the need for speed. Ready or not, desperately needed technology and change are coming to the Pentagon. I’ll have more to say as the process unfolds. For now, a few notes on what this bombshell means and how to ensure it fulfills the president’s goals.
The EO orders a root-and-branch reform of our “antiquated” defense acquisitions system. Within 60 days, it orders Secretary of Defense Hegseth to submit a plan for defense procurement that maximizes speed and minimizes red tape. Crucially, it stipulates that DOD should use existing authorities to the maximum extent, with a “first preference for commercial solutions” and a “general preference” for innovative acquisition authorities like OTAs and policies under the Rapid Capabilities Offices.
This is a Defense Reformation two-fer, right off the bat.
First, it acknowledges that DOD is already required to buy commercial whenever possible. FASA is the law, it has been for 30 years, and it is unambiguous in its intent. If a commercial item exists that meets requirements, the government must buy it. If a commercial item exists that doesn’t meet requirements, the government must modify the requirements in order to buy it. Finally, if a commercial item exists and the government can’t bend its requirements to make it fit, the government must approach the commercial company and ask it to modify the product to meet the requirements! That’s plain as day, yet FASA is the most violated law in the land today as government procurement officers sidestep the law while hiding behind vague justifications of national security crying wolf. No longer. My only quibble is that there’s no reason this reform should be limited to DOD. FASA applies government wide. Purchasing officers and CTOs, take note.
Second, the EO does a great service by defining what a “commercial solution” actually is, namely a product “funded by private investment.” GOTS solutions are not commercial. Plenty of contractors and FFRDCs try to pass off their work as commercial because they’ve cobbled together commercial solutions they did not build, while billing the taxpayer for the R&D and integration services that created it. That’s not commercial, that’s a government science project in disguise. DOD can reward commercial companies for their self-investment and save money by buying the products of private risk capital instead of IRAD.
Next, deregulation. The EO orders the elimination or revision of DOD acquisitions regulations, including Financial Management Regulations and DFARS, that are duplicative, wasteful, and slow. The president effectively is telling DOD to DOGE itself. The kludge that has built up in the machine over decades is the reason why, as one observer points out, it takes longer than a standard enlistment (and more like two or three) for any program to wind its way through the acquisition pipeline. Time to scrape the barnacles off the hull.
The next section of the EO deals with the primacy of people. It orders changes to performance reviews for the acquisition workforce to encourage employees to buy commercial, use innovative acquisitions pathways, and iterate requirements so they serve the warfighter. Critically, it urges new methods to encourage acquisitions officers to “take measured and calculated risks.” This would be a revolutionary culture shift inside DOD, creating a bias for action and rewarding the patriots in the building who are willing to take chances and run through walls to deliver for our national security at the speed of relevance. Keeping your head down and coloring between the lines should not be enough to advance. It’s time to reward the heretics and heroes.
What applies to personnel should apply to programs. The EO orders a 90-day review of all major defense acquisitions programs. MDAPS that are 15% behind schedule, 15% over budget, unable to meet key performance parameters, or unaligned with OSD’s priorities will be on the chopping block. My only question here is why this wasn’t DOD policy sooner. If you want competition and high performance, the ability to fail is key. No one is served, least of all our troops, by an army of zombie programs shambling to completion years behind schedule. The money and manpower supporting those programs should be shifted to more promising alternatives. It will be key for DOD to review programs based on their original contract metrics and not by re-baselined modifications that have occurred along the way as cost and schedule goals have been modified due to deviations for struggling programs.
Finally, requirements. The EO calls for a “comprehensive review” of JCIDS within 180 days, with the goal of “streamlining and accelerating acquisition.” We’re already on record about what the end result of this review should be: blow up JCIDS. DOD’s jointness-industrial complex is a bureaucratic hall of mirrors that tacks years onto the already endless procurement process. Dynamiting JCIDS is the kind of bold move that the president clearly has in mind. It would set the tone for a lean, mean, and lethal DOD that delivers for our troops.
Overall, this EO is an incredibly encouraging sign of things to come. Many of the 18 theses themes are on display in this short and direct document. President Trump has sent a clear signal that a Defense Reformation is needed. Now the real work of fixing DOD can begin. Strap on your helmet.