Collaborative Disruption at DoD

a16z
5 Mar 202422:06

Summary

TLDRThe script recounts the intertwined histories of the US defense sector and Silicon Valley's technological innovations, emphasizing their symbiotic relationship. It highlights the pivotal role of government agencies like NASA, DARPA, and the Pentagon in fostering groundbreaking advancements through funding and partnerships. The speaker underscores the urgency for the Department of Defense to accelerate innovation, streamline processes, and actively collaborate with the private sector to outpace adversaries like China. Ultimately, the speech rallies for preserving American dynamism and democracy as intrinsically linked forces that enable technological progress while upholding democratic values and institutions.

Takeaways

  • πŸ“š The narrative of Silicon Valley mirrors the broader American story, highlighting themes of pursuit, innovation, and varying degrees of participation and support.
  • πŸ“ˆ Silicon Valley's growth and the technology sector's evolution were significantly bolstered by both private initiative and public institution support, underscoring the importance of collaboration.
  • πŸ–₯ Government investments, like those from NASA and the Pentagon, played a crucial role in driving down costs and fostering commercial applications of new technologies.
  • πŸ† The script highlights the interwoven histories and destinies of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the technology community, emphasizing the cyclical nature of their relationship.
  • πŸ’» It addresses the shift in innovation and R&D funding from predominantly government-led in the mid-20th century to being majorly driven by private companies today, urging an update in DOD's engagement with innovation.
  • πŸ›  The importance of adopting innovations and collaborating with the private sector is emphasized to maintain military superiority and national security.
  • 🚁 The narrative acknowledges challenges and barriers within the DOD's innovation ecosystem and outlines efforts to streamline processes, encourage rapid prototyping, and foster collaboration.
  • 🚨 It calls for continued and enhanced collaboration between the government and the tech sector to address national security challenges, particularly those posed by global competitors like China.
  • πŸ“ The speaker advocates for strengthening democratic principles and the rule of law as foundational to innovation and national defense, suggesting a symbiotic relationship between democracy and technological advancement.
  • πŸ”¨ The closing remarks invoke a sense of duty and collective responsibility among businesses and individuals in the tech industry to contribute to national defense and uphold democratic values.

Q & A

  • What is the main topic of the speech?

    -The speech focuses on the importance of innovation and the collaboration between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the tech sector (particularly Silicon Valley) in driving technological advancements for national security.

  • What is the significance of the story of Silicon Valley mentioned in the speech?

    -The speaker likens the story of Silicon Valley to the story of America, emphasizing the pursuit of fortune, the American dream, free enterprise, entrepreneurial spirit, and the role of institutions and communities in supporting innovators.

  • How has the DOD's approach to innovation changed over the years?

    -Initially, the DOD dominated research and development funding, but since the 1980s, companies have contributed a larger share. The DOD has recognized the need to keep pace with the dynamic private sector and has implemented various initiatives to accelerate innovation and collaboration.

  • What are some of the specific initiatives mentioned by the speaker to drive innovation within the DOD?

    -The speaker mentions initiatives like Replicator (to rapidly field autonomous systems), streamlining acquisition pathways, embracing innovative contracting tools, focusing on talent and workforce development, investing in AI and data analytics, and creating new leadership positions and organizations.

  • How does the speaker view the role of China in relation to innovation?

    -The speaker portrays China's actions, such as IP theft, predatory investment strategies, and coercive military behavior, as a major reason for the recent surge in U.S. defense tech startups and investments, highlighting the need for the U.S. to maintain its innovative edge.

  • What is the significance of the Replicator initiative mentioned in the speech?

    -Replicator aims to rapidly field thousands of attrable autonomous systems across multiple domains within 18-24 months, showcasing the DOD's ability to move quickly and equip warfighters with the necessary capabilities, challenging the traditional slow acquisition processes.

  • How does the speaker emphasize the importance of collaboration between the DOD and Congress?

    -The speaker highlights the strong bipartisan support from Congress for driving innovation initiatives like Replicator, and stresses the need for Congress to pass appropriations quickly to avoid obstructing the DOD's innovation efforts.

  • What is the connection between American dynamism and American democracy according to the speaker?

    -The speaker argues that American dynamism (innovation, entrepreneurship) and American democracy are intertwined, with the success of one depending on the other. Upholding democratic principles and institutions is essential for continued innovation and technological progress.

  • Why does the speaker mention Dave Packard's quote about business institutions' responsibility to society?

    -The speaker cites Packard's quote to emphasize the historical connection between the tech sector and national defense efforts, and to highlight the responsibility of businesses to contribute to the society that enables their freedom and success.

  • What is the overall message of the speech?

    -The overall message is a call for collaboration between the DOD and the tech sector to drive innovation and maintain America's technological edge, while emphasizing the interdependence of American dynamism and American democracy, and the necessity of defending and investing in both.

Outlines

00:00

🌎 The Story of America's Innovation: From Humble Beginnings to Global Leadership

This paragraph traces the story of Silicon Valley and the technology sector in the United States, drawing parallels to the broader American experience. It highlights the role of pioneers, immigrants, and dreamers who dared to reimagine the future and push boundaries. The narrative emphasizes the collaborative nature of innovation, involving teams, teachers, and institutions that supported and enabled groundbreaking advancements. The paragraph underscores the critical role of government agencies like NASA, the Pentagon, and National Science Foundation in funding and nurturing technologies that later found widespread commercial applications.

05:01

⚑ Accelerating Innovation: DOD's Comprehensive Approach

This paragraph outlines the Department of Defense's (DOD) comprehensive and iterative approach to innovation over the past three years. It emphasizes the urgency to innovate and provide cutting-edge capabilities to American warfighters. The paragraph details various initiatives undertaken by the DOD, including developing novel operational concepts, accelerating prototyping and experimentation, embracing flexible acquisition pathways, collaborating with commercial and non-traditional firms, fostering data interoperability, and prioritizing talent acquisition. It highlights the DOD's efforts to break down barriers, streamline processes, and bridge the gaps between research, prototyping, and large-scale deployment.

10:02

⏱️ Expediting Innovation: Replicator and Overcoming Systemic Challenges

This paragraph focuses on the DOD's recent initiative, Replicator, aimed at rapidly fielding thousands of attritable autonomous systems across multiple domains within 18 to 24 months. It discusses the challenges and disruption caused by such an ambitious endeavor, which defies traditional DOD acquisition timelines. The paragraph highlights the progress made thus far, including aligning leaders, identifying operational needs, developing acquisition strategies, and preparing resource allocation plans. It emphasizes the DOD's determination to make such rapid innovation cycles the new normal, given the persistent competition with adversaries like China.

15:03

πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ Strengthening American Democracy and Dynamism

This paragraph underscores the interdependence between American dynamism and American democracy. It argues that the success of private sector innovation and the tech sector depends on upholding the rule of law, protecting intellectual property, ensuring equal rights and opportunities, and safeguarding the institutions that provide the foundation for liberty. The paragraph cautions against the authoritarian winds sweeping the globe and emphasizes the need to defend American democracy as a prerequisite for continued technological advancement and global leadership. It calls for a collective effort to strengthen democratic principles, as the success of American dynamism is intrinsically tied to the health of American democracy.

20:03

πŸ”— The Inextricable Link: Innovation, Democracy, and National Defense

The final paragraph reinforces the interconnected nature of innovation, democracy, and national defense. It cites the words of Dave Packard, one of Silicon Valley's pioneers, who acknowledged the responsibility of businesses to contribute to the defense effort as part of their obligation to the society that enables their freedom and success. The paragraph emphasizes the historical bond between technological advancements and the nation's security, dating back to the Cold War era. It concludes by affirming that defending American democracy and investing in it are essential for continued innovation and global leadership, as both are inextricably linked and worth defending.

Mindmap

Keywords

πŸ’‘Innovation

The act of introducing new ideas, methods, or technologies. The video emphasizes the importance of innovation in the tech sector and the role of the Department of Defense (DoD) in promoting and fostering innovation. It discusses initiatives like Replicator and flexible acquisition pathways to accelerate innovation and rapidly field new capabilities for warfighters.

πŸ’‘Collaboration

The act of working together towards a common goal. The video stresses the need for collaboration between the DoD, private sector, academia, and other stakeholders to drive innovation. It highlights that innovation is not just the work of individuals but also the result of collaborative efforts and supportive institutions.

πŸ’‘American Dynamism

The spirit of entrepreneurship, creativity, and constant progress that defines American culture and society. The video ties American dynamism to innovation, emphasizing that protecting and nurturing this dynamism is essential for continued technological advancement and national security.

πŸ’‘Democracy

A form of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through elected representatives. The video establishes a connection between American democracy and American dynamism, arguing that the two are intertwined and that defending democracy is crucial for maintaining the environment that fosters innovation.

πŸ’‘Warfighters

Military personnel engaged in combat operations. The video repeatedly stresses the importance of delivering innovative capabilities to warfighters at speed and scale, ensuring they have the tools and technologies needed to deter aggression and win potential conflicts.

πŸ’‘People's Republic of China (PRC)

The official name of China, often used in the context of national security and defense. The video presents the PRC as a major competitor and threat, highlighting the urgency to innovate and maintain technological superiority to counter China's modernized military and coercive behavior.

πŸ’‘Valleys of Death

A metaphor for the challenges and obstacles faced in transitioning from research and prototyping to full-scale production and deployment of new technologies. The video discusses DoD's efforts to bridge these "valleys of death" through initiatives like Replicator and flexible acquisition pathways.

πŸ’‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. The video highlights DoD's investments in AI research, the importance of data interoperability for AI applications, and the establishment of leadership roles like the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer.

πŸ’‘Acquisition

The process of obtaining or procuring goods or services, typically through contractual means. The video discusses DoD's efforts to streamline and accelerate the acquisition process for innovative technologies, using flexible pathways and embracing innovative contracting tools.

πŸ’‘Ecosystem

A complex network or interconnected system. The video refers to the DoD innovation ecosystem, which encompasses various components such as operational concepts, prototyping, experimentation, acquisition pathways, and collaboration with external partners.

Highlights

The story of Silicon Valley and the tech sector shares much with the story of America - a story of immigrants pursuing the American dream, of free enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit, of dreamers and builders pioneering new frontiers and reimagining the future.

It's not just a story of rugged individualists and founders, but also a story of the institutions, collaborations, teams, and teachers that supported them.

The government played a crucial role in enabling commercial innovation, such as NASA's procurement of silicon chips, DOD's creation of GPS, and NSF's funding of early internet and AI research.

While the ties between the Pentagon and the tech community have waxed and waned over the decades, the Department of Defense (DOD) now recognizes the need to better partner with and value non-traditional and commercial innovators.

The script has flipped since the 1980s, with companies now contributing 50-70% of America's R&D, but DOD's rules have not caught up, and they often struggle to keep pace with the dynamic private sector.

DOD's recent surge in defense tech investments, driven partly by China's behavior, is an opportunity, but the biggest reason is to tap into America's comparative advantage in innovation to maintain military superiority.

Secretary Austin and the speaker have focused on the urgency to innovate, taking a comprehensive, iterative, warfighter-centric approach to delivering combat-credible capabilities at speed and scale.

The speaker outlines several initiatives to bridge the valleys of death between lab, prototype, product, and scale, such as novel operational concepts, flexible acquisition pathways, innovative contracting tools, and faster transition processes.

DOD has issued data decrees, affirmed ethical AI principles, updated policies on autonomous weapons, and focused on talent and personnel, including new leadership roles and organizations dedicated to innovation.

The 2024 budget request represents a significant investment in R&D and procurement, sending clear demand signals to industry and catalyzing private capital investment in critical technologies.

The Replicator initiative aims to field thousands of attritrable autonomous systems across multiple domains within 18-24 months, demonstrating DOD's ability to move fast and equip warfighters with needed capabilities.

The normal DOD process for buying new capabilities takes 5-10 years or more, but Replicator has aligned leaders, identified needs, nominated capabilities, and developed acquisition strategies in just 5 months.

Congress and bipartisan support have been key partners in driving innovation, but timely passage of appropriations is crucial to avoid obstructing progress.

Institutional and cultural change takes time, and more deliberate discomfort and collaborative disruption will be necessary to become better collaborators with the tech sector.

American dynamism and democracy are intertwined - defending one means defending the other, as private sector success depends on upholding democratic principles and institutions that provide the blanket of liberty.

Transcripts

play00:10

good morning and thank you very much for

play00:11

the kind

play00:13

introduction the story of Silicon Valley

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and the sector it symbolizes shares much

play00:18

with the story of America it's a story

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of millions going west to find their

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Fortune of immigrants pursuing their own

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American dream of not all people getting

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to participate equally especially at

play00:33

first it's a story of free enterprise

play00:36

and entrepreneurial Spirit a story of

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dreamers and Builders who darare to

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Pioneer New Frontiers reimagine the

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future and change the status

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quo but it's not just a story of rugged

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individualists Founders and funders it's

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also a story of the institutions that

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supported them and The Talented

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communities around them it's a story of

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collaboration of teams and teachers

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formal and informal many are not

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household names they may not have been

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wealthy but they were indispensable to

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every disruptive

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innovation and it's a story of what

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government of the People by the people

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for the people can make

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possible think of NASA and the Pentagon

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buying so many silicon microchips in the

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1960s to guide Moon rockets and minman

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missiles that the price per chip fell

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from $1,000 to $25 in just a few years

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low enough for commercial

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applications think of DOD creating GPS

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decades before smartphone apps and

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startup business models relied on the

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geolocation Services it provides or the

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National Science Foundation funding the

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supercomputing center where Mark andreon

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worked on his first web browser think of

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DARPA funding early AI research at

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Stanford the labs where Vince Surf and

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Bob KH fathered the internet and the

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grand challenges that road tested

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Technologies used in today's

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self-driving

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cars of course none of that reduces the

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audacity the Brilliance the creativity

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and determination of all the innovators

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past and present throughout America's

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commercial technology sector the point

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is our histories are bound up together

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more deeply than we sometimes admit and

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our Fates are too over the decades the

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ties between the Pentagon and the Tech

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Community have waxed and waned even

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after Tech minded defense leaders like

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Harold Brown Bill Perry and Ash Carter

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sought to rekindle Flames rebuild

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Bridges and rewire the Pentagon to be a

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better partner some in DOD still

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undervalue non-traditional and

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Commercial commercial innovators in

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Silicon Valley and

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Beyond perhaps they longed for when

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Federal money dominated the early 1950s

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through the late 1970s When government

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and especially DOD contributed between

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1/ half and 2/3 of All American research

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and development

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dollars that same era birth dod's much

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loved multi-year budgeting

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processes in funding such Innovation it

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was easy and Washington got comfortable

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believing our processeses and pace could

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dictate everything that followed but

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since the 1980s the script has been

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flipped with companies contributing 50

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to 70% of America's R&D Pi yet dod's

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rules of the game have not caught up not

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only are we seldom Innovation pce

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Setters too often we can struggle just

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to keep Pace with a dynamic us private

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sector that continues to out innovate

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the

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world of course it's a much larger pie

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and we still invest a lot in real

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dollars dod's 2024 R&D budget request of

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$145 billion is triple what it was

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during the Cold War it's more than what

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alphabet Apple meta and Microsoft

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combined spent on R&D last year and our

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requested 2024 procurement budget what's

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converted into fielded capabilities and

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service

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is even more $170

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billion defense is not a small Market

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likely one reason behind the recent

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surge in US defense Tech focused

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startups scale ups and private inventure

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Capital some 2,000 deals investing over

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a hundred uh billion dollars since 2021

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per pitch book in the Wall Street

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Journal but this Market opportunity

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shouldn't be the only reason I'd assess

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the biggest reason especially over the

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last decade is the behavior of the

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People's Republic of

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China like IP theft predatory investment

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strategies crackdowns on due diligence

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companies and business intelligence

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providers that VCS need to make smart

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bets overtly forcing Tech to comply with

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political ideologies use of forced labor

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repression and exploitation of religious

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minorities not to mention the prc's

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coercive and risky military Behavior

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now to come to a summit on American

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dynamism is to make a choice you know

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what the alternative looks like you know

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who you want to win so I'm glad you

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chose Team USA because DOD needs you

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with us our nation has a major

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comparative advantage when it comes to

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Innovation and for our military to stay

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the world's best we have to tap into

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that your patriotism

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Matters from day one secretary Austin

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and I have focused on the urgency to

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innovate we do so with our war Fighters

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foremost in mind as they stand watch

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around the world just this weekend three

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American soldiers were killed by Iranian

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backed militias in Jordan they made the

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ultimate sacrifice and we joined their

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families and loved ones in mourning

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their

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loss because we owe them and every US

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service member our very best for 3 years

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now we have taken a comprehensive

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iterative war fighter Centric approach

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to Innovation recognizing we Face an

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accumulation of challenges and barriers

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and there is no Silver Bullet that will

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lower them all along the way we've never

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wavered from our ultimate objective

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delivering safe and reliable combat

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credible capabilities at speed and scale

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to America's Warf Fighters so they can

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deter aggression and win if called to

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fight

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why the urgency because the PRC has

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spent decades building a modern military

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designed primarily to do one thing

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overmatch us but the one advantage they

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can never outmatch steal or copy because

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it's embedded in our people is American

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Ingenuity our ability to think freely

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innovate change the game and in the

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military sphere to imagine create and

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master the Future character of warfare

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our starting position is stronger as a

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free and open Society of Blue Sky

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inventors doers and problem solvers we

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don't see to control Innovation or make

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it tow the party line instead we aim to

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seed spark and stoke the Flames of

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innovation and with so much happening

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outside of DOD that requires better

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adopting Innovations wherever they add

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the most military

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value an important way we do that is by

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Bridging the much discussed valleys of

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death valleys because there are several

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labed prototype prototype to product

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product to scale there are still others

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and The Valleys can be especially

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treacherous to cross if you're new to

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working with

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DOD now these valleys are necessary for

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any healthy Innovation ecosystem not

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every idea or prototype should scale

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because not all of them work for the

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world fighter and we need more creative

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prospects coming in than are likely to

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make it out so that we push the

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Innovation Edge and avoid group

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think it's similar in Silicon Valley

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there's a reason why fail fast and

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iterate is a

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montra not every founder who pitches a

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VC gets funded not every company with a

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series a round makes it to series B andc

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and so on only some get bought or go

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public we've all met plenty of good idea

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fairies but I don't know anyone that's

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always

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right so our goal isn't for everything

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to cross the valleys of death instead it

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is to get the right things across them

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to the right people at the right time

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that requires a fast moving cycle from

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identifying key capability needs to

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effective Solutions a Warf fighter

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defined investment funnel if you will

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comprising novel operational Concepts

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prototyping experimentation expeditious

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acquisition Pathways open doors for

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newcomers to enter and a More Level

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Playing

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Field every piece should be constantly

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iterating moving rapidly responsibly and

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securely because if something doesn't

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work or isn't secure it's not useful for

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the warf fighter it loses its value and

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when something does prove valuable we

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need to be able to produce and deploy it

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at scale and speed

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let me tell you some of what we've done

play10:01

in the last three years to get at this

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problem and I'll do it in three

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minutes we've been repeatedly iterating

play10:08

on novel operational concepts for joint

play10:10

War fighting we have new processes to

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incentivize and accelerate promising

play10:15

joint capabilities and experiments to

play10:17

advance those operational Concepts

play10:20

shrinking their Time Crossing The

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Valleys of death by as much as 2

play10:24

years to bridge the lab to prototype and

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prototype to scale ale valleys of death

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we're using more flexible acquisition

play10:32

Pathways for rapid prototyping rapid

play10:34

fielding and software development over

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$35 billion have gone through these

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Pathways since 2021 across nearly 200

play10:44

programs they've shaved up to six years

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off transition and delivery timelines

play10:50

for war fighter

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priorities to work better with

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commercial and non-traditional firms

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we're embracing Innovative Contracting

play10:58

tools that that can be easier for them

play11:00

to navigate we also sped how we

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transition the most promising

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capabilities to scale by overcoming

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bureaucratic and cultural barriers that

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slow us

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down we knew all that was necessary

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because of our work to map and then

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methodically debug the whole DOD

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Innovation ecosystem a nose to

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grindstone effort that like software

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development never ends as one of the

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world's largest organizations we must

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always look for ways to get out of Our

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Own

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Way Beyond that we issued data decrees

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that all DOD data must comply with

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because data interoperability access and

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trustworthiness are critical for AI for

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doing command and control across all

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domains and for being a modern defense

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department no

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excuses we also affirmed ethical AI

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principles updated our decade old but

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still World leading policy on

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responsible use of autonomous weapon

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systems and and issued new strategies

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and implementation plans on data

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analytics AI adoption and responsible

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AI simultaneously we focused on talent

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and Personnel from the Ada initiative

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that deploys data scientists to every

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combatant command to continuously

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upscaling our acquisition

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Workforce we also brought focused

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leadership to critical organizations and

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stood up new ones we elevated the

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defense Innovation unit to report

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directly to the secretary so it can help

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focus and accelerate how we Leverage The

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Best of commercially derived Tech diu is

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now led by a former direct report to

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Apple

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CEO we integrated disperate digital Ai

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and data analytics teams under an

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empowered Chief digital and artificial

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intelligence officer who previously ran

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machine learning at Lyft he also reports

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directly to secretary

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Austin and we created the Office of

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strategic Capital to partner with

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private sector uh private Capital excuse

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me markets and catalyze investment in

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Technologies critical to National

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Security across the board we're making

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smart serious investments in terms of

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real dollar value our 2024 budget

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request would make the second largest

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investment in defense R&D plus

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procurement since

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1952 we'd send industry clear demand

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signals with things like multi-year

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procurement for key

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Munitions funding to expand industrial

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based facilities workforces sub tier

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suppliers and more secure Supply

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chains meanwhile throughout we're

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ensuring our defense dollars deliver by

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providing effective oversight for the

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taxpayer our three minutes are up and I

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get it if your eyes glazed over not all

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of this is headline grabbing but

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remember there are no silver bullets all

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of it is absolutely necessary to drag

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DOD into the modern era our efforts are

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fundamentally resetting behavior for

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defense innovators program managers

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resource leaders and decision makers and

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even though it's collaborative that kind

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of disruption can still be

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uncomfortable take replicator one of our

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most recent

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initiatives replicators goal has always

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been simple and straightforward to field

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thousands of ATT trable autonomous

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systems in multiple domains within 18 to

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24 months and to prove ways to burn down

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risk and rapidly and safely overcome

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barriers to

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scaling it's about showing ourselves and

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our adversaries the dod can move fast to

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shape the battle space and equip our war

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Fighters with what they need and as

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we've said from the outset we'll be

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replicating that process in other areas

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beyond all domain at trable autonomous

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systems reactions to replicator have

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been a bit of a warshock test maybe

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that's because as The Washington Post

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said it surprised the entire defense

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establishment a wide range of responses

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isn't uncommon when you're pursuing

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collaborative disruption and you can't

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let the more negative views knock you

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off track so we haveen it we've put our

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heads down worked with congress with the

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commercial sector and across DOD to

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deliver and today we are on track to

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meet replicators

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goals in five months we've aligned

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leaders across DOD around common Vision

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identified and validated key operational

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needs requirements from combatant

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commands nominated and selected initial

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capabilities to meet those needs across

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multiple domains developed acquisition

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strategies for each capability to

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determine which systems to field

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analyzed what resources it will take to

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deliver on those capabilities and where

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the gaps are and in the next several

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days we'll submit a spend plan and

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reprogramming request to Congress what

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we we did in 5 months normally takes DOD

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2 to 3 years if you're not sure what is

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more mindblowing how fast we did it or

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how long it normally takes I don't blame

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you honestly the length of our normal

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process should blow your

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mind it's because our system for buying

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new capabilities was designed in that

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1960s era of deod innovation dominance

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and reinforced after the Cold War when

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our leading conventional military

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capabilities seemed

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unbeatable so most things still start

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with that inevitable inexurable

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multi-year budget process and Take 5 to

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10 years or more to field its

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scale to go from start to Fielding

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inside the 2-year cycle is not normal

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it's

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disruptive but we plan to make it normal

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because more speed is

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essential this this is not the Cold War

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nor the post-cold War era with the PRC

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we are in a persistent generational

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competition for Advantage and we have to

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double down with urgency and

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confidence Congress is and always will

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be a key partner in this even as open

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collaborative leadership within the

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Pentagon is also

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essential and we've been fortunate to

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have strong bipartisan support on many

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fronts for driving innovation including

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the replicator initiative from

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Congressman Gallagher who you'll hear

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from later today also Congressman

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Calbert who's championing Innovation

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like never before in the Appropriations

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process Senator tester whose laser

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focused on ensuring we can out compete

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China by modernizing do as well as

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Senator Reed who has been

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stalwart like them we also want Congress

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to come together to pass Appropriations

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for 2024 ASAP it's long over the DU and

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the delay is devastating we're 4 months

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into the fiscal year any more delays

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will only obstruct all the great work

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we're trying to do

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together thinking differently does not

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come easy to large organizations and the

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Pentagon is no exception we still have

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many more pain points to address across

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dod's Innovation

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ecosystem institutional and cultural

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change takes time constant tending and

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consistent leadership we've got to keep

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listening learning and iterating to

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continually become better customers and

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collaborators with the tech sector so

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make no mistake more deliberate

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discomfort will be required more

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collaborative disruption will be

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necessary the future of our nation

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depends on it and it depends on you

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because American dynamism and American

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democracy are inexorably

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intertwined enforcing contracts and

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protecting IP depends on upholding the

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rule of law hiring a talented Workforce

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depends on having good schools

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universities and immigration the

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flourishing of all Americans depends on

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ensuring equal rights and equal

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opportunity for all and starting a

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business investing in others inventing a

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product and taking it to Market depends

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on safeguarding the institutions that

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provide the blanket of Liberty under

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which you do so if we want to keep

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changing the world then we have to

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strengthen the Democratic principles

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that make this nation so worth defending

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and make changing the world even

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possible our country is not immune from

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the authoritarian winds that sweep the

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globe we have seen America routinely

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tested while she has withstood we cannot

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take that for granted institutions can

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be degraded belief in institutions can

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fade both endanger the health of our

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nation and your success we want private

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sector in Innovation to to succeed we

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want American dynamism we need you to

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feel the same about American democracy

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because neither can Thrive unless the

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other

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succeeds we all have to work together to

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defend our country and its

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beliefs yes moving fast and breaking

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things is necessary to win Wars but

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remember there will always be at least

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two things that every civilian and

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Military member serving in DOD must

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never break the law and our owes to the

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United States

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Constitution how we do this matters our

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ends and our means for achieving them

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them are intertwined because the end we

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seek is for American democracy and

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dynamism to continue to Long

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Ure many years ago one of silicon

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Valley's original garage Founders Dave

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Packard spoke about his company's quote

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obligation to make some contributions to

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the defense effort in times of of Peace

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as well as in times of War he said it

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was part of quote business institutions

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having a responsibility to the society

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in which they exist to do something more

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than simply make a

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profit why because in his words we have

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freedom of action which is the direct

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result of the American type of

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government Packard said that nine months

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before the Soviets launch sputnick

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bringing Tech competition to the

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Forefront of America's Cold War

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consciousness and he said it 12 years

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before he came to Washington to serve as

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deputy secretary of

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defense like I said our histories are

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bound together more than we sometimes

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admit that binding enabled Silicon

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Valley to thrive to drive successive

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areas of technological Evolution and

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Revolution to change the world again and

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again that's worth defending America is

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worth defending an American democracy is

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worth defending and both are worth

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investing in thank

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[Applause]

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you

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