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Reform and experimentation after the Cold War, 1989-2001 / Philip L. Shiman, Elliott V. Converse III, Joseph A. Arena.

by Shiman, Philip, author.

Washington, D.C. : Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2022.

United States. Department of Defense -- Procurement -- History.

United States. Department of Defense -- Reorganization -- History.

Weapons systems -- United States -- Case studies.

Research and development contracts, Government -- United States -- History.

United States -- Armed Forces -- Procurement -- History.

United States -- Armed Forces -- Weapons systems -- History.

9780160959271 (cloth)

History of acquisition in the Department of Defense ; v. 5.

xxi, 656 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm

The international order in flux: from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the 9/11 attacks -- In Packard's wake: the Defense Management Review, 1989-1990 -- The failure of oversight and management: the A-12 program -- The V-22 Osprey and the politics of the defense drawdown, 1989-1992 -- Acquisition under stress: adapting to war and rethinking reform, 1990-1993 -- The Clinton administration, Congress, and acquisition reform 1993-1997 -- Reformers "reengineer" acquisition, 1993-1997 -- The technology imperative -- Acquisition and the computer revolution -- Acquisition reform, 1997-2001 -- The Air Force and acquisition, 1989-2001 -- The Army and acquisition, 1989-2001 -- Acquisition in the Navy and Marine Corps, 1989-2001 -- Restructuring the defense industry, 1989-2001 -- The defense acquisition workforce, 1989-2001 -- Conclusion.

This book, the fifth volume in the History of Acquisition in the Department of Defense series, focuses on the adoption in the 1990s of new concepts and methods for acquiring major weapon systems. The changes came from several quarters - the White House, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military services, and Congress - and in response to numerous pressures. The most important of these were the end of the Cold War and the resulting decline in defense spending; advances in weapons technology, especially information technology; and the widespread belief that the acquisition system was failing to deliver the weapon systems the nation needed, when it needed them, and at a cost it was willing to pay. Both President George H. W. Bush and President William J. "Bill" Clinton made correcting acquisition's perceived weaknesses a high priority. Reforms aimed at decreasing the time required to develop and field advanced weapon systems while reducing their cost, strengthening acquisition management and organizations, improving the quality and professionalism of the acquisition workforce, forging new relationships with the defense industry, and tapping the commercial economy for leading-edge technologies, innovative business practices, and finished products easily installed in or adapted to military systems. Despite the many changes of the 1990s, decades-long trends continued: reliance on technologically superior weapons to gain advantage over potential opponents, the centralization of acquisition management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and congressional push for greater oversight. In-depth case studies of major weapon system programs illustrate how acquisition functioned, particularly in adapting to reforms that sometimes succeeded, sometimes failed, and sometimes had no impact on program outcomes. Taken as a whole, however, the reforms made the acquisition community better able to adopt innovations and best practices from the private sector, more responsive to the users of systems, and more capable of designing policies, organizations, and procedures to address the security threats of the new century. --

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