DIU’s director tried to overcome a calcified defense innovation system. It beat him. Now
what?
"DoD, through its neglect, is turning its back on the disruptive opportunities from the commercial and non-traditional innovation sector," warns Bill Greenwalt of AEI.
By BILL GREENWALT
on August 29, 2022 at 2:20 PM
Future of Naval Innovation panel
Everyone in Washington seems to agree the Pentagon needs to change how it does acquisition — and yet, the system never seems to change. The latest to exit DC after trying is Mike Brown, who retires this week as the head of the department’s commercial technology office. In a new op-ed, Bill Greenwalt of AEI argues that Brown may have been doomed from the start, and wonders whether DoD really is ready for acquisition modernization.
This upcoming Friday is Michael Brown’s last day as the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). Over his four-year term, the former Symantec CEO was given a hard lesson in the ways of Washington.
Tasked with trying to access the tantalizing fruits of Silicon Valley for DoD, Brown made slow but steady progress, as outlined in the group’s annual reports [PDF]. These victories were hard earned, considering DIU was actively undermined from its inception seven years ago. It has suffered from a lack of funding and flexibility that limited non-traditional experimentation and the scaling of technologies, an acquisition bureaucracy stuck in a 1970s mindset, and monopolistic entrenched defense companies supported by government advocates who continue to put up roadblocks to the emergence of any SpaceX-like new entrants that could threaten existing weapons franchises.
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/08/dius-director-tried-to-overcome-a-calcified-defense-innovation-system-it-beat-him-now-what/
