Hegseth unveils ‘transformation’ of DoD acquisition system

The Pentagon is restructuring the chain of command within its acquisition system, replacing the program executive offices that have long formed the backbone of the Defense Department procurement system with “portfolio acquisition executives” that will be more empowered to make decisions and more directly accountable for performance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday.

The changes are part of a wide-ranging overhaul Hegseth said the department will make as part of what he framed as a war on Pentagon bureaucracy amid a need to accelerate the procurement system, increase competition, use commercial technology as DoD’s default option, and eliminate excessive regulations.

“Speed to delivery is now our organizing principle,” Hegseth said Friday during a 70-minute speech at the National War College in Washington. “It is the decisive factor in maintaining deterrence and warfighting advantage. If our warfighters die or our country loses because we took too long to get them what we needed, we have failed. It is that simple. The sense of urgency has slipped too much, and when you look at what we face, we have to recapture it.”

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