It’s highly unlikely you’ll ever hear a military leader say “I’ve got all the money and time I need to execute the mission.” And when a global pandemic, aging infrastructure, and the end of a multi-decade war all drive federal spending towards domestic priorities, defense budgets get even tighter. Enter the practice of divestiture. Sustainment is the most expensive portion of a weapon system’s life cycle, and there comes a time when it’s more cost effective to get rid of the system and find something new to do the job. Adam Miller joins podcast editor Ron Granieri in the virtual studio to discuss why getting rid of things is harder than it sounds. They talk about a budgetary system that doesn’t incentivize divestiture, personal and professional biases that get in the way, and an acquisition system that is a baffling maze of rules, regulations, terms and acronyms.
One of the great facets of multi-domain operations is this idea that across all domains, it’s a joint effort. And so, as we move forward to modernize for this doctrine, I believe we are going to see a joint vision and we’re going to nest service capabilities in a different way.
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Adam Miller is an Army acquisition officer who most recently served as the Program Manager for Air Defense Software. He has programming and budgeting experience from his time at the Pentagon and has worked closely with congressional staffers to help manage many different weapons programs in his over 10 years of program management. He is a graduate of the AY21 Resident Program at the U.S. Army War College.
Ron Granieri is an Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Army War College and the Editor of A BETTER PEACE.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.
Photo Description: Yes, we know there is a new version of the Integrated Deense Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Life Cycle Management Framework, but most major weapon systems currently in the inventory went through something like this process. And not to insult the acquisition corps but it’s telling just how much of the graphic represents the divestiture and disposal of a system.
Photo Credit: Defense Acquisition University
