During a House Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) questioned Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment, Michael Duffey about reforming the acquisitions process.
00:00Very nice gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Wilson.
00:02Thank you, Chairman Mike Rogers.
00:05And first and foremost, I would like to thank all of you for coming to testify today in your service to our nation.
00:11Your backgrounds are unprecedented to serve the American people successfully.
00:16We appreciate your push for a strong America by way of peace through strength by helping to get us we need to face and deter our enemies.
00:24We are in a Cold War we did not choose between dictators with rule of gun invading democracies with rule of law.
00:31World Criminal Putin, the regime in Tehran, the Chinese Communist Party continue to modernize their capabilities and rapidly expand as they grow closer to one another,
00:41the largest military peacetime buildup in world history.
00:45The U.S. must remain ahead of adversaries to ensure that we maintain peace through strength.
00:50And my questions really are an appreciation of Chairman Mike Rogers' bipartisan initiatives.
00:57Secretary Duffy, from my 23 years service on the committee, sadly, we've made more attempts at acquisition reform than I care to count.
01:07Addressing the issues with our acquisition process is vital to ensuring our warfighters are properly equipped to deter enemies.
01:15Technological advances are achieved today remarkably as never before in history.
01:22From your view, why is it so hard to fix the system which clearly needs to meet the needs of the warfighters?
01:29Well, thank you for your question, Congressman, and I agree.
01:32I've been around the Department of Defense for about 15 years,
01:35and it is frustrating that it continues to be a challenge for us to learn how to acquire systems.
01:43In that time, as I've thought about how to approach this job, I do think the differentiator is execution and leadership.
01:50And so I'm privileged to serve under Deputy Secretary of Defense Feinberg, who I believe is really taking it right to the problem.
01:58We are having unprecedented levels of engagement with industry leadership.
02:02I was in Huntsville last week talking to the program managers and program executive officers.
02:07I think bringing the urgency and the desire for change to the folks that are really executing the mission
02:13and ensuring and providing them with the assurance that they have the top cover.
02:19So if they're going to take risk, it's under our direction, and it's calculated risk, but it's the risk that's required to move fast.
02:26I think when we establish a precedent like that and then we recognize and reward folks who repeat that behavior,
02:34it's my hope and my projection that we'll be able to systematize some change.
02:39It's very encouraging.
02:41Fifteen years at the Pentagon, and you're still optimistic.
02:44This is good.
02:46And, Secretary Duffy, I'm grateful to represent the 2nd District of South Carolina.
02:49It's the home of AGY of Aiken, a leading innovator in manufacturing of specialty glass fiber solutions
02:56serving the global country composites industry.
03:02What steps in your office are being taken to ensure that we continue to have the capability
03:07to produce unique, critical manufacturing materials in the United States
03:11and thus preserve this essential starting point of America's national security supply chain?
03:17It's absolutely critical that we ensure that we've got a diverse industry.
03:24One of the challenges that we've confronted as we're thinking through this acquisition reform
03:29is our dependency on single-source suppliers.
03:32And so finding those unique businesses that, whether they're dual-use or single-source,
03:40how do we reinforce the ability to provide capability from a diverse set of actors?
03:48So we're always looking at where is there fragility in the defense industrial base
03:52and how can we apply the resources and authorities that Congress has applied to reinforce that strength?
03:58Well, and it's exciting that AGY also produces the interiors for the 787 Dreamliners
04:06that are made by Boeing and Charleston.
04:08So we can't have a fusion, as China is achieving, of military and civilian purposes, and AGY would be classic.
04:19Additionally, as you've mentioned, saving time for current commercial offerings.
04:25Can you give some examples?
04:29Well, I just was having a great discussion with General Purdy before the hearing
04:33about how space benefits so tremendously from dual-use application
04:38where the commercial industry is stimulating investment that the department can benefit from.
04:44And so I think looking across all of our needs
04:47and identifying how are there ways for us to leverage commercial investment
04:52to extend the purchasing power of the Pentagon is top of mind.
Be the first to comment