In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been a bit of a shakeup in the DoD innovation world in the past week. The head of DIU is out, critical technology areas are changing, the Navy is overhauling how it develops and adopts new tech, and JCIDS is dead. Oh yeah, and then there’s the whole Defense Intelligence Agency thing—but we’ll get into that later.
With all this turmoil, we thought a roadmap might be helpful. So, what the heck has been going on—and what are things in the defense innovation world going to look like now?
Doug Beck out, Emil Michael in: The biggest headline of the week was probably that Doug Beck, former director of DIU, resigned on Aug. 25. Emil Michael, former CBO at Uber and current USD R&E (CTO of the Pentagon), stepped in as acting director with Mike Dodd (the Doddfather) as acting deputy director. This administration loves multiple hats.
- Michael said yesterday that he does not intend to stick around permanently as acting director and that the unit will remain “independent.”
- While DIU has not officially been brought under R&E (unlike CDAO), Michael’s (temporary) leadership is likely to bring the organization more in line with R&E.
- It’s worth noting for the uninitiated that DIU founders specifically pushed to report to the SecDef. They’ve had that direct line from 2016-2018 and 2023 to the present.
Shifts in critical technology areas: Yesterday, Michael—who seems to have become a Hegseth and Trump favorite—also said that he would be trimming down the list of the DoD’s critical technology areas. These are the technologies that the DoD most urgently wants to adopt, and the list includes everything from quantum to hypersonics to trusted AI.
- Under the Biden administration, the list grew to 14 categories.
- Basically, Michael said the list was too long and it makes it hard for people—industry and DoD—to know what to focus on. “What I’m trying to do is make a smaller number that’s digestible and that people will wake up every day thinking about,” he said.
He did not say what would be cut, but did say his department would focus on projects with shorter roadmaps. “I’m trying to change the roadmaps into sprints, OK. A sprint being what can we achieve in the next two to three years? What is close enough that we [can] get [it to] the warfighter?” he told reporters.
DARPA can handle the long-term stuff, he added.
For what it’s worth, Navy CTO Justin Fanelli thinks it’s a good move. “Focus facilitates excellence,” he told Tectonic. “I think everyone’s noticing we’re using this alignment to increase focus and clarity, and as a result, outcomes and value are rising.”
RIP JCIDS: This was a biggie. The Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS)—the DoD’s decades-old requirements process—was formally dismantled by SecDef Hegseth and DepSecDef Feinberg on Aug. 20.
- According to Hegseth’s memo, the goal of dismantling the program is “streamlining and accelerating acquisition” and getting tech into the hands of warfighters more quickly.
- The memo also calls for more engagement with industry and ensuring that budgets align with operational needs.
- Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) review of requirements has been halted.
- For what it’s worth, the DoD requirements process has been widely maligned by the defense tech world as, like, the major barrier to entry at the Pentagon.
- The move has been praised by some defense acquisition reform champions.
In place of JCIDS, the SecDef called for:
- The creation of a Requirements & Resourcing Alignment Board (RRAB), which will align strategy with budgets.
- The allocation of Joint Acceleration Reserve (JAR) funding to companies building critical tech (which will be recommended by the RRAB and USD R&E) to help cross the “valley of death.”
- The establishment of Mission Engineering & Integration Activity (MEIA) under USD R&E, which will engage with industry and get tech fielded more quickly.
In essence, services have now gained more control over requirements, and budgets will be more directly tied to outcomes.
The memo specifies that “no new review layers or other bureaucratic processes that may impede timely fielding of new technologies or capabilities will be created.” Sounds like someone read The First Breakfast.
“Every organization must now meet a simple test: Are we accelerating the delivery of integrated capabilities to solve our most pressing operational problems?” Hegseth and Feinberg conclude. “If not, we must adapt or be realigned.”
Shakeup at sea: As we mentioned earlier in the week, SecNav John Phelan also kicked off his own shakeup in the Navy. He established the Naval Rapid Capabilities Office (NRCO), which will oversee all new tech and will absorb:
- The Disruptive Capabilities Office
- The Maritime Accelerated Response Cell
- NavalX
- Navy’s portion of the Replicator drone program
To note, this brings the Navy in line with what the Army and Air Force have already done with their rapid capabilities offices.
Vice Adm. Seiko Okano was reportedly named head of the NRCO, and the office was mandated to highlight five priority programs within 60 days. They have also set out a goal of delivering all capabilities within three years across all maritime domains.
Intelligence out, politics in: And that brings us to the final shakeup on our list—less innovation-related, but still relevant. Among a slew of firings this week, Hegseth also dismissed the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse.
- Hegseth said the firing was due to a loss of confidence after the DIA’s assessment of US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites (destruction was not total) contradicted White House messaging (“completely and totally obliterated”).
- Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore and Rear Adm. Milton Sands were also removed from their posts.
- Analysts and lawmakers warned that this was a politicization of intelligence. “The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” Senator Mark R. Warner (D‑VA), Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said.
TL;DR: So, what does this all mean? Well, first things first, it does seem that Hegseth, Feinberg, and Trump are making good on their promises to reform acquisition and bring industry through the door of the Pentagon. If these changes work, they should make it easier for companies like all of yours to field tech with the military.
But there is also a distinct smell of cleaning house and loyalty testing in the air. And if the DIA dismissals are anything to go by, shifting political winds could determine who, exactly, gets a seat at the table.