On January 28, Hondo Geurts, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition, and a Commissioner on Forward Defense‘s Commision on Software-Defined Warfare, testified to the Senate Committee on Armed Services Hearing on defense innovation and acquisition reform. Geurts emphasized the need for the Department of Defense to streamline its acquisition processes, reduce bureaucratic delays, and foster a culture of innovation to maintain a technological edge over adversaries like China. He also called for reforms to procurement protests, proposing limits on multiple challenges and disincentives for companies that habitually delay defense contracts.
Forward Defense leads the Atlantic Council’s US and global defense programming, developing actionable recommendations for the United States and its allies and partners to compete, innovate, and navigate the rapidly evolving character of warfare. Through its work on US defense policy and force design, the military applications of advanced technology, space security, strategic deterrence, and defense industrial revitalization, it informs the strategies, policies, and capabilities that the United States will need to deter, and, if necessary, prevail in major-power conflict.
Forward Defense’s Commission on Software-Defined Warfare aims to digitally transform the armed forces for success in future battlefields. Comprised of a distinguished group of subject-matter and industry commissioners, the Commission has developed a framework to enhance US and allied forces through emergent digital capabilities.
