WT 360: Defense One's Lauren Williams on the new world order of acquisition

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Lauren Williams, senior editor at Defense One who covers the industrial base, jumps in to go over the Pentagon’s new ways of working with contractors and how commercial buying is more than just about products.

In his Nov. 7 address to industry, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out what the U.S. military wants from its contractors and wholesale changes the Pentagon is carrying out to make agile acquisitions a reality.

Lauren Williams, senior editor at Defense One who covers the industrial base, was there in-person and joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to walk through those structural changes that prior Defense Department leaders have spoken about for years.

One major theme of that dialogue has been DOD’s desire to have more commercial technologies, which has been easier said than done. But as Lauren explains, the push to “go commercial” is more than just about the product being bought.

Also on this episode’s discussion agenda: what the defense industrial base has been up to during the shutdown and why prototyping is becoming more popular across the ecosystem.

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