Just like old times.
The agreement includes a reversal of firings of federal workers since the start of the shutdown, as well as protections against additional furloughs through January.
Dig Deeper
As the shutdown was in its final days earlier this week, the AP also detailed the impact of the shutdown on small businesses that depend on federal contracts. Meghann Myers of Defense One reported military service organizations called out the continued impact of shutdowns and uncertain funding on readiness. And GovExec reported good news for federal employees who can expect "most backpay by Nov. 19."
Following last Friday's speech, Sec. Hegseth's office released three memos that overhauled the requirements process and foreign military sales.
In a letter, Sen. Elizabeth Warren called opposition to proposed reforms "dangerous and misguided."
U.S. Northern Command said it conducted a C-sUAS drill at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota where it successfully engaged more than 100 targets of interest.
The department announced "Southern Spear" as high-level briefings coincide with the arrival of a carrier strike group in the USSOUTHCOM AOR.
The Prompt Payment Act requires agencies to pay interest on any invoices older than 30 days, but the question is, when does that clock start for most vendors?
The Army secretary's challenge is a steep climb considering the entire department currently only acquires around 50,000 drones annually.
The missile will be both ground and air-launched and will leverage lessons from previous 'cheap' cruise missile efforts.
With the shutdown at an end, the SBIR program's fate is still pending a deal that remains at an impasse.
Without artificial intelligence, AI training, and automation, the Intelligence Community faces an overwhelming task in keeping top decision-makers informed in a fast-moving world.
Despite their strategic importance, the metal casting and forging sectors face challenges ahead.
As requirements for Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0 went into effect Monday, a years-long "wait and see" attitude from industry spells trouble for implementation.
Dig Deeper
In an article this week, Michael Meyer argues the bureaucracy CMMC creates "works against the very acquisition reforms the Department says it wants." And he brings the receipts.
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More In Depth
As U.S. advantages in artificial intelligence, quantum, and biotechnology is increasingly contested, experts argue for mobilizing investment and addressing vulnerabilities.
A recent cyber attack from a threat actor suspected to be China employed AI to an "unprecedented degree." Read the case study.
"Allies no longer doubt America’s resources or ingenuity — they doubt its reliability."
If you're looking for the download of the changes to acquisition policy announced last week, this is a great place to start.
From Army service to venture, Jake Bostock shares the human side of capability building. He recounts his transition out of uniform and into a prominent position in the Australian defence space.
Editor's Notes
Ok, so there is a lot of news this week. Either that’s because it was a very busy week in the headlines with the shutdown ending and all or because I’m getting better at finding them now. I guess we’ll find out together soon! If you didn’t catch all of the changes to acquisition policy Sec. Hegseth announced last week during his remarks at the National War College (followed by a flurry of supporting memos), I suggest starting with the Federal Drive podcast featured here this week. It’s a concise, commute-length-friendly readout of the changes. tl;dr—the order of the day is speed, which means portfolio-focused management and commercial-first solutions. You can almost hear the collective “finally!” being muttered in the background.
For your weekly dose of fear, I bring you the article from Anthropic in this week’s “More In Depth” section. (BTW, if you haven’t realized it yet, this section will always have the longer, more cerebral pieces.) In it, the Anthropic team recounts and assesses what it believes to be “the first documented case of a large-scale cyberattack executed without substantial human intervention.” If you thought vibe coding was cringe, wait until you see vibe hacking! I won’t get ahead of this one, because our own Jerry Ramey is working on a forthcoming piece about the cybersecurity implications of AI as it gets exponentially more advanced. Suffice it to say this feels like a bit of a Rubicon moment for AI and cybersecurity.
But I mostly want to focus this week on the pushback against industry for “right to repair,” which is working its way through Congress. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling out industry for what she frames as self-serving scare tactics. This week’s Federal News Network article quotes the senator as saying "there is no real basis to oppose the defense right-to-repair effort other than to protect profits of some of the largest defense contractors in the country.”
Far be it from me to come to their defense. So I’ll let former Army secretary and current CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association Eric Fanning do it for me. Fanning penned an op-ed this week in the Washington Times. In it, he argues that right to repair would chill innovation by putting intellectual property at risk, not to mention the impacts to companies’ competitiveness in the market—impacts, by the way, that disproportionately hit small and mid-sized businesses. He says shortages of parts, maintenance personnel gaps, and regularly deferred maintenance are more to blame than intellectual property issues.
As with most debates, the best answer is somewhere at the mean. We cannot, despite the senator’s insistence, expect companies—to whom we’ve offloaded most of the innovative R&D—to happily give up their advantage. On the other hand, I have seen up close the mission-changing breakthrough of a small, 3D-printed component that could easily replace a part that otherwise gets jealously guarded by a prime making movie theater popcorn-level profit margins. In many cases, the military is asking service members to creatively solve tactical problems and then tying their hands at the source. There has to be a balance between the needs of the mission and the ability of companies to continue to produce the innovations those same warfighters need.
At the end of the say, I have a feel the “customer is always right” truism will win out.
Happy reading,
| Beau Downey, Editor
The views represented in this commentary are my own and do not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense or the US Government.
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