Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

The lengthy time required for technology acquisition is also a serious problem that needsurgent resolution. The Commission notes that this problem is not new and that it affectsour entire national security posture, not just WMD threats. The problem is serious enough,and long-standing enough, that the traditional approaches to correct it simply will not doRecommendation 3.8: The head of each department or agency involved in thedevelopment of technology used to combat WMD, particularly the Secretary ofDefense, should personally reinvigorate the use of private-sector technology in hisor her department, while simultaneously increasing the speed by which technologytransitions to fielded systems.Personal involvement at the secretarial level is absolutely vital to success. Without thepersonal and sustaining commitment of agency heads, our large government departmentswill be unable to reverse their course toward longer and longer acquisition times. Personalinvolvement by the Secretary of Defense is perhaps most critical of all, because aweakness in DoD technology acquisition is a weakness throughout the national effort tocombat weapons of mass destruction.The Commission also realizes that the department secretaries will need effectiveorganizational incentives to overcome the chronic technology acquisition problems causedby the separation of technology producers and consumers, and by non-responsiveacquisition regulations, within the government.Recommendation 3.9: The National Director should measure the success of theWMD technology program by using performance measurements provided bytechnology users.Funding for further technology development, except in discretionary cases, shouldbe made conditional upon user validation of those programs. This recommendation placesa discipline upon the technology producer community similar to that employed in theprivate sector, which emphasizes the connection of corporate technology development toits business units. In the Federal Government’s case, the user community acts as thebusiness unit.Recommendation 3.10: The National Director should direct development andimplementation of a plan to harmonize the communications and computationalinfrastructure used by the departments and agencies in combating proliferation.29