Doug Beck, Director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), speaks on a panel at the a16z American Dynamism Summit regarding defense acquisition reform and risk management.
“And I think we need to take that to the problem that we're, the problems that we're trying to solve here, because at the end of the day, what we've all got to do is we've got to find ways to take on more of the kinds of risks that are financial risks, process risks, maybe even reputational risks and take those on as a department and as partners across the whole defense innovation ecosystem so that we avoid continuing To not take those risks and instead create real risk, risk to mission, risk to force for the young soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardian, marines that, that would have to fight a future conflict.”
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More from Doug Beck
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Beck: DoD has procurement authority; culture is the real bottleneck
“We actually have all the authorities that we need right now. And we can do it. The issue is by far more one of culture.”
Doug BeckMar 7, 2024▶ 40:54From Silicon Valley to the Pentagon: The Future of Defense Innovation
Disclosure
Beck: Special ops was his most innovative workplace, standard military his least
“The most innovative place that I've ever worked in my entire life was actually a joint special operations task force downrange. And the least innovative place that I've ever worked in my entire life is also, was also with my uniform on.”
Doug BeckMar 7, 2024▶ 41:20From Silicon Valley to the Pentagon: The Future of Defense Innovation
Disclosure
Beck: 15% of DIU work goes to traditional defense primes
“DIU does about 15% of its work with primes and works with startups and works with everybody in between.”
Doug BeckMar 7, 2024▶ 19:35From Silicon Valley to the Pentagon: The Future of Defense Innovation
AssertionSupported
Beck: Commercial tech moves faster than defense in 11 of 14 DoD tech areas
“In 11 of the 14 areas we track as the department, things like artificial intelligence, biotechnology autonomy energy the pace of change in those spaces is, is, and frankly likely always will be faster in some of those spaces than it is in a purely bespoke defe…”
Doug BeckMar 7, 2024▶ 20:12From Silicon Valley to the Pentagon: The Future of Defense Innovation
AssertionSupported
Beck: Pentagon Replicator program on track to deliver in 18-24 months
“Today speaking here at the conference that the deputy mentioned, we are on track. To deliver that capability within that time frame, and that's 18 to 24 months, something that ordinarily would take three or four years.”
Doug BeckMar 7, 2024▶ 23:12From Silicon Valley to the Pentagon: The Future of Defense Innovation
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Beck: Drone tech in Ukraine requires updates every three months
“The pace of change is three months or less in terms of effectiveness and need to be able to, for example, evolve the UAS systems, those unmanned systems because of what's happening in the electronic warfare environment around them.”
Doug BeckMar 7, 2024▶ 32:48From Silicon Valley to the Pentagon: The Future of Defense Innovation
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