Moore’s Law Goes To War: How Can The Department Of Defense Keep Pace With Changes In IT?

Moore’s Law – the observation that computing power doubles roughly every two years – has not only transformed how people live but also how they fight. Revolutionary technologies, from social networks to smartphones, have changed the world. Such rapid change, however, challenges military acquisitions, which can take years or even decades to buy new systems. For the U.S. military, which has been reliant on its technological advantages to deter and defeat adversaries, this mismatch has major implications and presents a serious national security risk. But how can the Department of Defense (DOD) and Congress improve on current processes? Should Congress simply give DOD more budgetary and oversight flexibility? Or is legislation required to better incentivize smaller and more rapid acquisition programs? What can DOD do to make it easier for the most innovative companies to supply warfighters in the most cost efficient ways?

To address these and other approaches, the Center for 21^st Century Security and Intelligence hosted a panel discussion with experts qualified to look across decades of acquisition reform and offer innovative ideas about the way forward.  Panel members included Jacques Gansler, former undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics; Tom Sisti, senior director and chief legislative counsel at SAP; Jon Etherton, senior fellow at the National Defense Industrial Association; and Lieutenant Colonel Dan Ward, author of F.I.R.E.: How Fast, Inexpensive, Restrained, and Elegant Methods Ignite Innovation. Brookings Visiting Fellow in Cybersecurity Ian Wallace moderated the discussion.