Collaborative Disruption at DoD: Kathleen Hicks in Conversation with Sharon Weinberger
Summary
TLDRThis dialogue addresses the tragic loss of three US service members and the importance of advancing counter-drone technologies. It highlights the United States' focus on counter-UAS efforts, the necessity for rapid technological innovation, particularly in software, and the challenges posed by budget constraints. The conversation also delves into the 2024 budget's role in procurement and innovation, the evolving defense industrial base, and the significance of private investment in defense. Furthermore, it explores the cooperation between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon, emphasizing AI and autonomous systems' responsible development and deployment. Lessons from Ukraine's conflict and the ongoing effort to reform the Department of Defense's acquisition process are discussed, underscoring the critical nature of agility and innovation in maintaining national security.
Takeaways
- 👏 The tragic loss of three US service members highlights the critical importance of counter-UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) technologies and the urgent need to evolve and accelerate their deployment on the battlefield.
- 💡 Software-driven innovation, particularly demonstrated in Ukraine, showcases the rapid pace of technological development and iteration, underscoring the need for continued evolution in military tech.
- 🛡️ The 2024 budget constraints and governmental operational limits are challenges to advancing military technology and readiness, emphasizing the need for adequate funding and operational authority.
- 💰 High levels of private investment in defense underscore the potential for innovative technologies to transform warfare, though matching these investments with acquisition dollars remains a concern.
- 🚩 The Defense Department's procurement strategies are evolving to meet the changing nature of warfare, with an emphasis on software-defined capabilities and advanced manufacturing.
- 🔨 The defense industrial base is expected to diversify beyond traditional prime contractors, incorporating more non-traditional companies and innovators to enhance competition and innovation.
- 🧑💻 Cooperation between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon is crucial, with efforts ongoing to ensure the alignment of commercial sector innovation with defense needs, while maintaining American values.
- 🧠 Project Lima and the focus on responsible AI and autonomy reflect the Department of Defense's commitment to safely integrating cutting-edge technologies in a manner consistent with American values and military effectiveness.
- 📡 Lessons from Ukraine, particularly in the use of satellites and autonomous systems, inform U.S. military strategy and technology deployment, emphasizing the importance of communication, innovation at the unit level, and intelligence.
- 🚀 Ongoing acquisition reform and the utilization of alternative pathways are critical to streamlining the deployment of innovative technologies and maintaining the U.S. military's technological edge.
Q & A
What is the significance of counter-drone systems mentioned in the context of US service members' loss?
-The counter-drone systems are emphasized due to their importance in protecting against attacks using unmanned aerial systems (UAS), highlighted by a tragic incident where three US service members were killed, underscoring the need to advance these technologies.
How has the conflict in Ukraine demonstrated the importance of software-driven technologies in modern warfare?
-The conflict in Ukraine has shown the rapid pace of development and iteration of technologies, particularly software-driven ones, indicating the critical role of such innovations in enhancing battlefield capabilities.
Why is the 2024 budget mentioned as crucial for advancing military technologies?
-The 2024 budget is crucial because financial constraints and the lack of a fully functional government budget limit the ability to innovate and deploy new technologies, impacting the military's operational capabilities.
What criteria define the success of the August 2025 timeline for the replicator initiative?
-Success is measured by meeting the goal of deploying technologies across multiple domains in large numbers within 18 to 24 months, transforming the Department of Defense's systems, and driving down risks in processes.
How is private investment in defense technologies perceived, and what challenges are mentioned?
-Private investment is seen positively, with a significant influx of funds into defense technologies. However, challenges include ensuring these investments are matched by acquisition dollars to meet the warfighter's needs effectively.
What future vision is portrayed for the defense industrial base?
-The vision for the defense industrial base includes greater competition, the inclusion of small businesses, and an expanded notion of the defense industrial base that integrates traditional providers with innovations from other sectors.
How is the relationship between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon described, and what efforts are made to maintain cooperation?
-The relationship has historically fluctuated, with efforts focused on aligning the values of the nation with technological advancements to ensure companies want to work with the Pentagon, especially in areas like responsible AI.
What is Project Lima, and what is its purpose?
-Project Lima is tasked with examining the use of generative AI and large language models within the Department of Defense, aiming to establish a framework for safe and effective deployment in line with American values.
What lessons have been learned from the use of new technologies in the conflict in Ukraine?
-Lessons include the advantages of space-based communications, mixed results in autonomy, the importance of scaling tactical innovations, and leveraging intelligence for strategic advantage.
What challenges are identified in reforming the defense department's acquisition process?
-The main challenge is the need for fundamental reform to accommodate rapid technological advancements and innovation, which requires building trust between Congress and the executive branch to utilize alternative acquisition pathways effectively.
Outlines
🛡️ Addressing Drone Threats and Accelerating Defense Innovation
The speech begins by addressing the tragic loss of three US service members due to drone attacks, marking it as the 165th such incident. This incident underscores the urgency in advancing counter-drone technologies and innovations in defense. The speaker highlights the significant role of software-driven advancements in Ukraine, demonstrating rapid technological iteration. However, the current budget constraints under a continuing resolution limit the potential for growth and innovation in defense technologies. The speaker emphasizes the necessity of the 2024 budget to enhance the United States' defense capabilities. Furthermore, the discussion touches upon the anticipation and challenges surrounding the 2025 timeline for a project dubbed 'replicator,' focusing on achieving ambitious goals across multiple domains. The overall narrative stresses the importance of evolving defense strategies, leveraging private investment in defense, and the critical need for acquisition reform to match the pace of technological advancement and fulfill the future requirements of warfare.
🏗️ Transforming the Defense Industrial Base for Future Challenges
This segment explores the future composition of the defense industrial base, emphasizing the importance of competition and the pivotal role of small businesses. The speaker suggests a shift in perspective is necessary, proposing that the entire American industrial base should be considered part of the defense industrial base. This inclusive approach encourages collaboration with traditional providers while also incorporating new sectors such as compute and other innovative areas. The narrative reflects on the historical cooperation between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon, acknowledging periods of rift and efforts to mend them. It underlines the ongoing commitment to align the commercial sector's values with those of the nation's defense goals, especially in areas like responsible AI and autonomy. The speaker also touches on the Department's proactive engagement with generative AI providers to ensure the safe and value-aligned implementation of new technologies for the warfighter. Lastly, the segment underscores the importance of learning from the technological deployments in Ukraine, highlighting the advantages of space-based communications and the need for rapid adoption and scaling of tactical innovations.
🔧 Streamlining Acquisition Processes and Fostering Technological Innovation
This paragraph emphasizes the critical need for reforming the Department of Defense's acquisition process to keep pace with technological advancements and operational demands. The speaker outlines efforts already underway, including alternative acquisition pathways and a focus on software acquisition. The dialogue stresses the importance of building trust with Congress to demonstrate the effectiveness of these new pathways. Moreover, the 'replicator' project is highlighted as a key initiative for acquiring specific capabilities, with a promise of forthcoming details on selected systems. The discussion concludes with reflections on the growth of technology and collaboration with Silicon Valley compared to five years ago, attributing significant progress to global events that underscore the importance of American innovation. The speaker expresses optimism about the potential for individual innovators and investors to contribute to national defense and counter the challenges posed by authoritarian regimes.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Counter-UAS (Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems)
💡Replicator
💡Defense Industrial Base
💡Responsible AI
💡Innovation
💡Acquisition Reform
💡Tactical Innovation
💡Intelligence
💡Commercial Sector
💡Rapid Iteration
Highlights
The tragic loss of three US service members in a drone attack is unacceptable, and the US needs to continue evolving counter-drone technologies.
The replicator program aims to deliver thousands of AI models across multiple domains within 18-24 months, transforming the Department of Defense's systems.
Success metrics for replicator include meeting the timeline, delivering capabilities valued by the warfighter, and transforming processes within the DoD.
The DoD's procurement budget request for 2024 is the highest in decades, but the focus is on acquiring the right technologies for the evolving nature of warfare.
The future defense industrial base needs to shift from a traditional model to include more non-traditional and commercial partners.
Maintaining cooperation between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon is a constant effort, focused on upholding American values and responsible AI development.
The Lima task force is evaluating hundreds of use cases for generative AI to develop a responsible framework for the DoD by Spring 2024.
Key lessons from Ukraine include the value of commercial space and communication technologies, scaling tactical innovations, and leveraging intelligence advantages.
The US excels at rapidly iterating from concept to experimentation and fielding, closely linking operators and technologists.
Fundamental acquisition reform is underway, building trust with Congress through alternate pathways like software acquisition.
System-level details on replicator will be shared with Congress in the next few days, with some aspects remaining classified.
Recent world events have increased awareness among Silicon Valley of how individual innovation can contribute to American dynamism and the risks of falling behind.
Transcripts
I wanted to start off with a more somber
note um of what you referenced um in
your speech talking about the tragic
loss of life of the three US service
members um is that I realize it's still
early days in terms of what happened um
but counter uas counter drone systems
have been a big topic it's an area where
a lot of companies are trying to
innovate is this an area where there are
lessons to be learned from that and ways
to accelerate Technologies to the
battlefield uh absolutely first of all
that I think is about our 165th attack
on um us using those sorts of techniques
largely U uh uas but a variety of
techniques um this one this one hit it
took three US service members and
wounded many
more um and that is absolutely
unacceptable to the United States and
and and um you know that's an issue that
is being worked very closely as I'm sure
those watching the news have seen um by
the president um it is an area we have
been very focused on counter us and yes
we absolutely know we need to continue
to evolve there so softwar driven
Ukraine more than anywhere else has
shown the pace the rapid pace of
iteration in terms of the development of
the Technologies and the capabilities
again a lot of its software there are
some other aspects um without the budget
it's very very hard for us um there are
great limitations on what we can do
Under A continuing resolution we have
some rapid acquisition authorities we
are using everything we have but there
just frankly limits to not having the
government functioning as it should and
we need that we need that um 2024 Budget
on replicator which you both acknowledge
there's a lot of excitement and also
questions about it it sounds like you're
committed to the August 2025 timeline
for it what is the metric for Success
when you get to that point what are the
concerns what are the things that would
say that didn't quite work out as we
planned or that worked out great how do
you measure that I think there are a
couple different measures the first is
did we meet that goal thousands multi-
doain across multiple domains in the
thousands in the timeline 18 to 24
months we know it's an aous goal we said
it at the beginning um I'm confident
we're doing um everything on track to
get there we're going to meet that goal
but the real uh payoff even though
that's real payoff to the war fighter if
you talk to the Indo paycom team they're
very excited by what we we hope to
deliver um the real payoff is you know
not trying to hack the system in one
particular way but to transform the
system at DOD replicator as I said is
the latest of our efforts it actually
quite very clearly for those who are
kind of following the game um building
on work we've done in Raider and cap
sorry to throw up more acronyms um but
that very clearly driving down the risk
burning down risk R for our processes
inside the building trying to identify
where we are in our own way or maybe
where there's some frozen middle issues
that get stuck so another aspect of
success beyond the immediate is are we
able to then take this bring it into
other areas and uh transform the system
to speed it up another thing you talked
about is just this tremendous level um
amount of private investment Venture
Capital going into defense um we
recently wrote about the1 billion that's
G in since
2021 but one of the concerns from those
companies and from those investors is
that it's not being matched yet by
acquisition dollars is that a concern
for you and how do we actually change
that yeah so first of all I think the
what I really would um hit that our
procurement budget request for 24 is is
you know the highest sec in the
peacetime you know era second highest in
the peace time era in 35 years um so
it's not that we don't have money going
into acquisition the question is what
are we acquiring and are we acquiring
what the war fighter needs and are we
acquiring everything we think the war
fighter needs well we've always had to
make hard choices there's no surprise
that we will continue to have to make
tradeoffs I think what I would stress is
as we um innovate and move through the
changing nature of warfare again shaping
that changing nature of warfare we know
so much of what is in that shift is
softwar defined um and is also could be
produced manufactured Ed much more
rapidly through um Advanced
manufacturing there are a lot of um
areas biotech I could think of others
that are driven right now by the
commercial sector so as we shift in the
nature of warfare there's more and more
opportunity for non- traditionals and
service providers to be a part of that
procurement story so lots of dollars
going to procurement that's not the
issue um the issue is are we able to buy
what we need and and are we thinking far
enough ahead to what the shape of
Warfare needs to be so what in that view
does the defense industrial base look
like and you know we could say 5 years
10 years time are there more than five
primes are there a dozen primes how does
that actually look in terms of of a
successful change in strategy I don't
think there's a predefinition of number
of primes I think the it is important to
have competition in the defense
industrial base there's no doubt about
it and we know um small business is a
huge driver of that pardon me so we work
very hard and trying to drive up the
percent that is coming uh percent of our
procurement and investment that is going
to those small
businesses with apologies uh but I don't
think I would try to guess here today
how many primes there would be I I think
the whole nature of what constitutes the
defense industrial base we need to shift
that that that mental model um the
American industrial base is the defense
industrial base we obviously have
traditional providers who we greatly
value we need them we need them to stay
at The Cutting Edge um and we continue
to work hard with them but but you know
it's very clear to everyone including
them that teaming with other parts of
the economy understanding the new areas
of innovation compute others um is
incredibly vital to Growing where we
need to go in defense you talked about
this long history of cooperation that
goes back decades between Silicon Valley
and the Pentagon there have also been
periods where there's been a rift um
most notably after the Vietnam War
period and then there was a big effort
to heal that Rift have we we've clearly
come a long way are there still issues
there um is there still a need to
overcome some of the hesitancy of tax
Silicon Valley to work with the Pentagon
or do you feel like we're pretty much
where we need to be I think that's a
constant um a constant refrain for us
and and we focus very much on as a
department across administrations you
know I think there has been a strong
focus on making sure that companies want
to work with us we know part of that is
making sure we represent the values of
the nation um and we we Lean Forward on
that um that's always been important for
the United States in terms of bringing
the commercial sector into work with
government so we continue to do that
today I don't think we are in a crisis
phase to use your Vietnam analogy and I
do think as I said in my remarks that
the PRC did a lot of that work by
comparison and the types of um uh both
their military activities and the types
of um coercive strategies they use
working with companies have done a lot
to turn others to looking to how you can
work with us um I will stress one area
that we've been very clear about is our
um AI responsible AI approach and a
responsible autonomy approach that's
decades long but we continue to evolve
it as the technology evolves we have
project Lima right now which is looking
at large language
models we you know safety is vital to
Effectiveness for us these aren't
trade-offs they are one in the same so
we look at how to adopt um Innovations
in a way that's safe for our war
Fighters and again reflective of
American values and we'll continue to do
that you actually preempted my next
question which is on uh Lima on that
task force looking at generative AI
where is it at what what what do you see
coming out of that what are the issues
it's looking at if you could expand on
that sure so they are looking at
hundreds of use cases um to identify
what are the right what's the right
framework for the Department this spring
is when that information comes forward
to the cdao and then to me and the
secretary thereafter so I anticipate
getting some feedback on where there are
use cases that are ready to go today if
there are those and other areas where we
need to do more more work but we work
closely with the with all the major um
generative AI you know providers and
wouldbe providers to make sure we're
lashed up we're very enthusiastic I
Astic to work with them we just have to
do it in a way that actually delivers
for the war
fighter um you spoke about both Ukraine
and then the Challenge from China um
there have been a lot of new
technologies deployed in Ukraine in some
ways it's been almost I think some
people have compared it to a test lab
for things like uavs for drones what are
some of the Lessons Learned um out of
that from your perspective of the
technologies that have been deployed
there sure I think um what I would
stress for the US really has been um the
proliferation of of space lower orbit
satellites in particular and
Communications that the commercial
sector really drove that's been a a
clear that ability to communicate and
and have uh Mass that's distributed has
paid off um I think when you look at
autonomy it's it's a more um mixed
picture in terms of exactly um how it
has evolved where it has provided
benefit and we take all of those lessons
away I think one piece that the United
States has an advantage on is is O over
other competitors is that when
Innovation happens down at the unit
level we know how to bring that up and
scale it we also need to make sure we do
that exceptionally well and
fast so that Tactical Innovations TTP
innovations that happen software
innovations that some very clever
Sergeant comes up with for instance
which you see in Ukraine all the time
that sort of is lifted up and
promulgated quickly AC Ross the force as
we go through Rapid iteration so I think
that's another lesson I would add and
then the last is Intel in general the
United States clearly has an advantage
in intelligence that's paid off
substantially um and to the extent that
we can help our partners with that in
this case Ukraine um that you know
that's an area we know is a strength to
build on that iter of process that you
talked about particularly coming down
from the Tactical level how do you get
that into the US system it's it's it's
an all Hands-On deck it comes at all
kinds of different levels we've really
um emphasized with the J War fighting
concept making sure that there's rapid
concept to experimentation to Fielding
that's our ridar initiative excuse me is
one of those areas where we've really
tried to highlight how do you quickly
take um a concept make sure you have the
right testing environment
experimentation environment the lab if
you will the substitute for Ukraine for
us the the the the experiment and
exercise realm for us out with our cooms
and you see a lot of that Innovation
going on today southcom centcom
indopacom others are doing a lot of that
work that's how we do it really make
sure we're testing it in the field with
the war fighter closely linked to the
technologist so the operator and the
technologist work together um to do that
rapid iteration a lot of this too is
again concept of employment so it's not
just technology it's about how do we use
that technology best and that's where we
really can Excel we have the most
incredible um military service members
um they are uh individuals who are um
incented to bring forward their best
that is definitely a different model
than authoritarian States it feels like
still sort of the um the biggest barrier
you talked about you know American
Ingenuity is where we have an advantage
over China it still very much feels like
our acquisition process is the 300 PB
gorilla can we get to where we need to
be without fundamentally reforming
defense department acquisition I think
we have to fundamentally reform defense
acquisition but we are down that path we
did have um the alternative acquisition
Pathways middle tier acquisition
Pathways for example we have to prove
those out um you know we have to show
that those Pathways software is one for
example we've already put billions of
dollars through that software
acquisition pathway now we have to show
our our um oversight committees that we
can deliver through those alternate
Pathways because there is a different
oversight model built into those and
it's really about trust between Congress
and the executive branch to prove out
that we can do good things with these
tools that they've given us so that's
why we've been so focused in this
Administration on taking all those
Authority changes showing we can make we
can advance against them replicators an
example of that and then where we can
build that trust I think there's more
opportunity to expand our authori so yes
we need acquisition reform we're in
acquisition reform now and we need to
build trust as we go through that
turning back to replicator for a moment
since you mentioned it um so there have
been specific capabilities that have
been selected when do you think we'll
learn about specific systems so the
systems we are talking to Congress about
um uh in in the immediate uh so we're
having those conversations right now at
the system level um expect to have um
those uh uh and we've been working with
sorry let me step back and say we've
been already working with Congress they
know it's coming the system level
information comes forward in the next
several days as I said in my um remarks
um when you'll know about them at the
system level is a different issue we
have a classification guidance we're
working through it is not unusual for
the defense department to keep some
aspects of the systems that we are
pursuing at a classified level it
doesn't mean that we are hiding them and
we work very closely with Congress
there's nothing hidden from Congress
they have to approve all of that funding
um so we'll work closely with them and
more to follow in terms of what we'll
share publicly great are you surprised
where we are now with with tech and
Silicon Valley compared to five years
ago I am I I think it is it is a marker
for what's happened I think in broader
world events I think um there's uh more
ability to see how you as an individual
innovator or investor can contribute to
the uh you know to the American
Experience to American dynamism dare I
say um and more concern about what the
alternative might hold we've seen that
in Hong Kong we've seen that elsewhere
and I think that more than anything has
brought to mind what the risks are for
uh falling behind it's a great way to
wrap up thank you so much right
[Applause]
thanks
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