The Army will effectively rent back-office IT “as a service” from contractors, allowing it to focus on modernizing the front-line network.

The Army believes it has all the legal authorities it needs to reform. Now it just has to make the reform work.

“CFTs (Cross Functional Teams) and Army Futures Command will always have a place on my schedule and the chief’s schedule,” Esper said. Over time, he said, “it becomes a routine… the expectation not just for AFC and the CFTs, but for future service secretaries and future chiefs of staff.”

“There are ways to be innovative in the Army,” retired Lt. Gen. Tom Spoehr said. But you have to protect the innovators from the institutional culture of the Pentagon: “You can send them someplace else, like Austin.”

“None of this would be happening without someone who’s not here today, and that’s Senator John McCain, an American hero,” General Milley said to some of the loudest applause of the day.

WASHINGTON: “My hope and sense is that innovation is not a partisan issue,” said Raj Shah, who runs the Pentagon’s outreach to the tech industry, the Defense Innovation Unit (Experimental), DIUx. “I would encourage the next administration to continue to enable, not just us, (but) several innovation efforts that the department has done.” Shah, a… Keep reading →

UPDATED: Adds Carter & Kirchhoff remarks AUSTIN: Today, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will announce the latest location for his Defense Innovation Unit (Experimental) — but DIUX Austin will be organized differently from the home office in Silicon Valley or its offshoot in Boston. Instead of its own offices, DIU(X) Austin will “occupy space within the well-known… Keep reading →