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Appendix E: Workshop Series Recap Meeting
Pages 118-130

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From page 118...
... He referenced an article that he published in 2015,1 which presented the systematic barriers to effective acquisition programs: acceptable cost, schedule, and technical performance. He suggested several actions to improve the acquisition process:  Do not begin acquisition programs that are not affordable.
From page 119...
... have developed the ability to succeed under this model, the business model used in commercial markets is very different. For instance, economic value is the common medium through which affairs are mediated, profit is based on the economic value the product creates for the customer, intellectual property rights are paramount, formal competition is not used universally, successful suppliers are rarely replaced in the absence of strong market drivers, and bureaucracy or other considerations that do not improve the economic value to the participants are rejected.
From page 120...
... ; and Gen. David Thompson said that the Space Force is dependent on the Air Force, intends to be a truly digital, small service; and has a vision for a digital workforce, digital engineering, digital headquarters, and digital operations.
From page 121...
... Dr. Drew also mentioned the BCG study that revealed that 70 percent of digital transformations fail and of those that succeed, 80 percent relied on six critical success factors (i.e., integrated strategy with clearly defined transformational goals, leadership commitment from the chief executive officer through middle management, deployment of high caliber talent, agile governance mindset that drives broad adoption, effective monitoring of progress, and a business-led modular technology and data platform)
From page 122...
... John P Biszko,4 which challenged the following four assumptions about the digital Air Force: "The world can best be understood as entering into phases of technological advancement as a coherent whole; the most effective way for a military to win over greatpower adversaries is to evolve its own capabilities in lockstep with the changing character of the technological landscape; the best way to attack or defend an increasingly digital entity is with increasingly digital weapons and defenses; and that government-sourced innovation is appropriately equivocal with military technological advances." He shared Maj.
From page 123...
... He added that strategic goals that do not impact funding resources are hollow goals. He expressed concern about "business as usual" continuing with the current digital transformation strategy, owing to a lack of discussion about tying the digital transformation goals to productivity changes aligned with IT infrastructure or industry best-of-breed process changes.
From page 124...
... In closing, Dr. Ryan asserted that a true digital strategy requires competent funding, a whole-ofgovernment approach, investment in the growth of personnel capabilities, and treatment as the most important national security issue.
From page 125...
... Mr. Santee recapped the Space Force's vision for an interconnected, innovative, digitally dominant force via digital headquarters, digital engineering, digital operations, and digital workforce.
From page 126...
... He wondered what the digital ecosystem would look like as a minimum viable product to support digital headquarters, digital engineering, and digital operations. He asserted that the Space Force needs data and thus needs to incentivize data sharing and penalize those who do not share data, and it needs to rely on policy and governance for collection and protection of these data.
From page 127...
... is critical to driving organization and culture change. It is not clear that the Air Force knows what it is spending or how best to shift resourcing from legacy capabilities to future desired capabilities.
From page 128...
... In the same vein, Julie Ryan reminded us all that "data writ large is a big juicy target" and offered examples -- Georgia, the Ukraine, and Colonial Pipeline -- where Russian cyberattacks served either as prequels to kinetic attack or as a means to criminal exploitation. Her conclusion that "data needs to be treated equivalent to a major weapon system" is a crucially important point that I believe should be captured in the final report, as well as her follow-on point that "security is more than secrecy," and that we are embarking on an effort where there are many self-proclaimed experts, some of which are frauds and charlatans.
From page 129...
... Last, Alden stressed like Julie and others "security-security-security," noting that the benefits and advantages we accrue from centralization are as well the vulnerabilities and deficits that endanger us. He felt there was too much focus on what the leadership over technology should be, and that the USAF/USSF should model commercial infrastructure and even employ commercial apps.


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