Risk is Part of the Game

The Defense Department is too conservative in its acquisitions strategy, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall told House legislators. “I think we’re not taking enough risk,” said Kendall during a Jan. 28 House Armed Services Committee hearing on improving DOD’s ability to respond to the pace of technological change. In new programs, Kendall said, “we’re not going to be able to reduce every risk to zero, we’ve got to be willing to put our programs out there” and assume small margins of risk, if the US is going to be No. 1 in the world in both technology and warfighting capabilities.