DOD Intends to Close Tech Gap as Pentagon Official Resigns, Citing U.S. Tech Edge Deficit
The Department of Defense (DOD) announced plans to close the technological gaps preventing the best ideas from reaching the market this week. The Microelectronics Commons hub will identify existing and innovative production facilities in the U.S. interested in DOD and federal funds for initial investments.
While Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering (USD R&E) Heidi Shyu issued a Federal Register notice requesting feedback on a public-private microelectronics hub in February, DOD released new venture details following U.S. Air Force (USAF) Chief Architect Officer Preston Dunlap’s public resignation.
Currently, the U.S. contributes only about 12 percent to global microelectronics production and has no mechanism to determine the viability of new technologies, effectively preventing American companies from investing in them.
“We’re falling behind the commercial base in key areas, so we’ve got to catch up. By the time the Government manages to produce something, it’s too often obsolete,” Dunlap said, “Much more must be done if the DOD is going to regrow its thinning technological edge.”
Two other senior DOD tech officials resigned recently, urging the Pentagon to modernize its technology approach. Nicolas Chaillan, former USAF Chief Software Officer, and David Spirk, outgoing DOD Chief Data Officer, emphasized the Pentagon’s need to accelerate efforts to counter adversaries developing military tools based on modern technologies.
Ahead of Dunlap’s resignation, Defense Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks expressed concern that Congress was reluctant to pursue cutting-edge technological initiatives.
“What we see in general is a real resistance to that approach and concern over whether the U.S. investments are making a difference up on Capitol Hill,” Deputy Secretary Hicks told reporters, “So, you get curtailment of programs, concerns over concurrency.”
USAF Chief Scientist Victoria Coleman explained that the microelectronics hub would initially act as an intermediary to aid promising new technologies emerging in U.S. labs to become commercially viable.
“We will not rely on our peer adversaries to prove our innovations, because today, they have us in a chokehold. So, we can invest a little money on what we think might pay off,” Coleman stated, “There’s no other way to talk about it. It’s just unacceptable that we found ourselves in that situation.”
Coleman envisions the Microelectronics Commons as a bridge for the U.S. tech gap, with the potential to eliminate the DOD’s state of dependence on adversarial production.