Defense Innovation Board calls for reviving AT&L office under new name

Defense Innovation Board member Adm. Michael Mullen (Ret.) attends a board meeting at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Oct. 17, 2022. (Department of Defense photo by Lisa Ferdinand)

Washington's Defense Innovation Board is calling for a major restructuring of the Pentagon's acquisition arm, saying in new recommendations released Wednesday that it's time to reinvent the old office of the Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L).

As one of two recommendations from separate studies passed unanimously by the committee, the DIB wants to recombine the offices of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S) and the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Technology (R&E), with the new office to be tentatively named the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for International Integration and Cooperation, rather than AT&L.

Congress split the AT&L office into A&S and R&E offices in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act after years of questioning from leaders about whether having such a huge joint office made sense to meet modern technology needs. (Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, the last to hold the title of undersecretary for AT&L, was adamant about not splitting the office.)

Now, DIB claims that the division of offices is hindering technology development.

During the Wednesday morning meeting, DIB member Charles Phillips said the committee wants to reconsolidate these offices because the Department of Defense needs them to.[s] Integrated design requires globally integrated manufacturing capabilities, which is difficult to achieve with separate organizations.

Speaking at a Defense Reporters Association event Wednesday night, Phillips, head of technology investment firm Recognize and a former Oracle president, said the creation of the International Joint Cooperation Office would also allow the Defense Department to better leverage innovation happening in allied nations. Phillips said that currently having two separate offices can leave allies confused about how to engage in partnerships.

“Too much fragmentation makes it difficult for them [allies] If there is one organization involved [says] “'This is what we're going to make, this is what we're going to research, this is what's going to happen to produce it, this is how we're going to distribute the production, this is the work involved,' so that has to be there too. All of this has to be done up front as a team, so that's why they have it in one place,” Phillips said.

Michael Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who now serves on the DIB, echoed Philip's comments Wednesday evening, saying the two departments need to be merged for the benefit of startups and small businesses. He said separate departments mean startups don't know who to contact within the Pentagon to pitch their technology.

“Now I'm out there as a startup. Where do I start? How do I even get into this system? I'm in the old world, where do I call in the Yellow Pages to get in? It's an incredibly hard building to break into,” he said.

It's important to note that the DIB is an advisory board with no power other than to advise the Secretary of Defense, and even if the Secretary of Defense were to agree to revive AT&L under a different name, the Pentagon would still need to seek approval for the move from Congress, which split the office in two just eight years ago.

But the DIB has influence, and making the recommendations public could spur debate or provide cover for those who wanted to replicate the single procurement office model.

Guest speaker at the committee's meeting Wednesday morning, Navy Capt. Colin Cain, who also works at the Joint Rapid Acquisition Center, echoed committee members' recommendations to reinstate an office similar to AT&L, saying a lack of communication between the two offices has prevented the department from addressing urgent needs to counter unmanned systems threats.

Since separating OSD A&S and R&E, we have not seen the capacity or effective means of communication. I believe there would be benefits to combining the two organizations, and by uniting our efforts we can move in that direction to make these things happen. [uncrewed systems threat] Mr Cain said it would be more effective and give the industry clarity to move forward.

We have to make sure that we're basically leading the way, but maybe right now we're to the left of the goal in terms of being able to rapidly introduce and deploy those capabilities. There's no clear path forward for the innovation that's being deployed or developed by the FFRDC. [federally funded research and development centers] and UARC [University Affiliated Research Centers] The goal is to incorporate that into the POM process, he added.

Accept the risk

The procurement reform concept was just one of two recommendations the DIB passed on Wednesday. The committee also recommended that the Defense Department should become more willing to take risks and emulate the private sector's willingness to take on emerging technologies. Otherwise, China will overtake the U.S. in terms of technological innovation, Mullen said.

There are two fundamentally different cultures inside the Defense Department and in the private sector, particularly startups, Mullen said Wednesday morning: The Defense Department is very risk-averse, it's being asked to move very quickly and it needs to have a much higher appetite for risk.

The challenge for me is that we grow up as warriors taking a lot of risks on the battlefield, at sea, in war. Often it's calculated risks, our lives are put at risk in an environment that requires us to take risks to win. And we come back. […] “Going into the building, we're not going to take any risks, and I think that speaks to the fact that we're all steeped in a culture of not taking that risk,” he added during Wednesday night's debate.

In a release following the DIB meeting, the committee said it will soon release two upcoming studies that support key Department of Defense priorities on unmanned systems and partnerships with non-traditional defense industries.

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