Category: Emerging Defense Challenges

Taming the Overzealous Implementation of BBP

By James Hasik

When Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced recently his pending retirement, we at the Council began to think about his legacy, both in that job and in his previous as under secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics (USD AT&L). Perhaps his most salient initiative was the Better Buying Power guidance of 2010. Through the first and […]

Dynamic Corporate Strategy Forum Discussion

On October 18, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security held a private, roundtable discussion for its Corporate Strategy Forum on the topic of “The Outlook for Government Services.” Speaking to the issues of the place of services businesses in the scheme of the defense industry were Stan Soloway, president and CEO of […]

Gauging the Implications of Disruptive Technologies in European Security Challenges

By James Hasik

Last week, the Atlantic Council hosted a delegation of the Party of European Socialists for a discussion of the implications of disruptive technologies. Remarks were off-the-record, but my presentation on the implications for European security (one of three from Council senior fellows) should be open for consideration. As my two colleagues spent their time talking […]

Technology or Skill?

By James Hasik

What Determines Military Quality, and Why Should Industry care? Battlefield performance may be a rare arbiter of military quality, but when the opportunity arises, it forms an unmistakable signal. So before any military forces and the industries behind them land in that crucible, it’s worth asking what inputs predict which organizations are more likely to emerge […]

Full, Open, and Unhelpful

By James Hasik

On Paring Back Clearance Lists for ID/IQ Contracts At our inaugural Captains of Industry event last week, Excelis CEO Dave Melcher had a few sound ideas for the folks who run procurement policy at the Pentagon. I’ve been reading over those, and one which stood out concerned the Defense Department’s current approach to indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity […]

Melcher Discusses the Business of Defense in an Age of Austerity

On October 2nd, the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security launched the Atlantic Council Captains of Industry series, a forum for leaders of major defense contractors to discuss their plans for navigating the new realities facing their businesses. The first speaker was David Melcher, CEO and president of Excelis, a $5.5 billion global aerospace, defense, […]