Just like old times.
The 3,086-page compromise bill authorizes $291 billion for operations and maintenance, $234 billion for military personnel and healthcare, $162 billion for procurement, and $146 billion for research and development.
Dig Deeper
Despite expectations of additional acquisitions reforms to echo those recently implemented by the Pentagon, Federal News Network reports some major provisions were dropped from the final version of the bill. If you need a refresher on the NDAA process, here is the Congressional Research Service's primer. And if you have absolutely nothing to do and approximately 400 free hours, here is the full text of the bill.
As expected, Sec. Hegseth unveiled the new NDS at the Reagan National Defense Forum after the White House released its updated National Security Strategy last week.
President Trump issued an expected executive order that he had signaled earlier in the week, with protests from state-level leaders, notably among them Gov. Desantis of Florida.
The final language of the annual bill that funds the US military is in. It removes provisions that would have helped ensure service members’ ability to fix their own equipment.
"If you can manufacture something any other way, you probably should," said an unnamed additive manufacturing expert. This article is part one of two that explore why the sector isn't living up to its potential for the military.
The main concern is whether DIU—whose work spans space, autonomy and AI, energy and logistics, cyber modernization, human systems and advanced communications—has too many programs.
"I will say this, it's one thing to design and innovate. It's another thing to build a prototype, and then it's an entirely different ball game to then scale manufacturing," said an attendee at the Reagan National Defense Forum.
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey outlined key steps taken since the early November mandate to move out on acquisition reform.
A fuller version reviewed by Defense One outlines the Trump administration’s plans for shedding old relationships and creating new ones.
The Security and Resiliency Initiative comes at a time when the U.S. is looking to modernize infrastructure, shore up supply chains and implement policies that promote growth.
Sen. Joni Ernst, chair of the Small Business Committee, called for agencies to halt new awards after she introduced legislation that would suspend 8(a) sole-source contracts.
According to a release, Gemini for Government "empowers intelligent agentic workflows, unleashes experimentation, and ushers in an AI-driven culture change that will dominate the digital battlefield for years to come."
Dig Deeper
Earlier this week, Defense Scoop reported comments from Emil Michael, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and de facto head of the Defense Innovation Unit, on bringing "[AI] capabilities directly to some portion, if not all, of the 3 million users at the Pentagon at different classification levels." Hear it in Michael's own words in this week's video recommendation below.
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Feature Commentaries
Militaries are drawing the wrong conclusions from Ukraine because they’re treating its drone-heavy, trench-dense battlefield as universal, says John Beckner, CEO of a UK aerospace company.
"This is a really rare opportunity to attack some of those requirements that are most burdensome,” said Margaret Boatner, AIA's vice president for national security policy.
Defense Opinion writer Michael Blake argues for "constant refinement of screening protocols and architectural hardening" as AI is integrated into more areas of the military.
The new compromise defense authorization bill calls for a higher level of defense spending than the executive requested. Get caught up here with the experts.
Emil Michael, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, explains the Pentagon’s partnership with Google to give 3 million employees access to Gemini on a secure network.
Editor's Notes
There are a lot of big announcements happening in quick succession, which I guess is the consequence of shortening the operable period of governance between continuing resolutions to a few weeks! As expected, we got a new National Defense Strategy over the weekend that prioritizes the Western Hemisphere (read: our own back yard) that is a natural extension of the newly released National Security Strategy. Priority number two is China, although inside the Pentagon this is a clear signal to an enterprise that has been laser-focused on America’s ‘pacing challenge’ for years now that it needs to shift gears. As has been pointed out in coverage, Russia is notably absent, leaving room for Europe to own its own back yard presumably?
The NDAA passed the House with some last minute changes. It’s worth a quick reminder this is an authorization bill, not the appropriations one. Money comes next, which will certainly be part of the broader government funding discussion. Fun. There are a few articles included this week that talk about what got left out—notably some acquisitions reforms and the much more anticipated ‘right of repair.’
Of course, there is also a lot of discussion around the rollout of the Pentagon’s new AI partnership with Google’s Gemini in the form of GenAI.mil. It certainly ruffled some feathers among those trying to sell their model to the government. You also may have seen the posters (which are ripe for meme-ification) encouraging service members to try out the new tool. The announcement comes amid a broader conversation about AI you can see a snapshot of here in the articles of this week’s edition. At the federal level, President Trump signed an executive order he had signaled for days that restricts state-level AI regulations that might, in his view, throttle innovation. No surprise that has states on edge. The bottom line seems clear: this administration is leaning forward on AI and expects it to be incorporated at every level of military operations.
I have to throw a note in here to say Jerry Ramey’s article last week calling for a step back as we get ready to jump into the agentic AI abyss seems particularly well timed. If you missed it, you can find it in the archive.
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.
More In Depth
Global conflicts have translated to record revenues for defense companies, and Europe is growing the fastest. Dig into the numbers with pretty interactive charts too.
History suggests what happens when the U.S. military outspends a foe by orders of magnitude.
The Trump administration's recently released National Security Strategy is a stark departure from its predecessor during Trump's first term. Take a look at its perceived psychological fingerprints.
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Both the House and Senate-passed versions reflect bipartisan concerns about the U.S. military footprint in Europe and would impose requirements the Pentagon must meet before any reductions.
"WarMatrix is a toolkit and orchestration environment that enables rapid scenario creation and provides a common analytical workflow with human on the loop adjudication.”
Take a closer look at the Aug. 20 memo that effectively ended the the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System, or JCIDS.
The challenge, launched in August, seeks to rapidly discover and prototype commercial technologies that align with the operational USINDOPACOM priorities.
Appropriators have signaled they will protect the increase, which, for context, amounts to about $134 a month for an E-4 with four years of service.
Basically the headline is the story. But it's an interesting contention we will have to deal with as AI becomes more advanced.
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