What do you think Silicon Valley can do for the Military?

2015-11-18T18:04:36-05:00

Interesting to see some of the ideas being discussed in this WIRED piece below. For example, "Ash Carter wants more mixing: Place career officers in agile private companies for a few months. And invite techies to spend time at the DOD."

Do you see this as a good move to integrate the personnel & technology from both sides?
If you could draw it up, what are some of the biggest ways Silicon Valley (or technology companies in general) can help the DoD?

Department of Defense Head Ashton Carter Enlists Silicon Valley to Transform the Military

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter is transforming the Pentagon---by introducing it to Silicon Valley

Response by SPC(P) Jay Heenan made Nov 18 at 2015 6:05 PM

2015-11-18T18:05:51-05:00

Nothing, it is in California...

Response by SSG Eddye Royal made Nov 18 at 2015 6:08 PM

2015-11-18T18:08:34-05:00

Sir, this has been going on for over 25 year. Both NCOs and Officers if selected by the upper chain of command did this. I was one.

Response by LTC John Shaw made Nov 18 at 2015 6:15 PM

2015-11-18T18:15:47-05:00

Capt Brandon Charters All the services need to learn from the Air Force (did I just say that?). This service has a program with industry and Congressional budget involvement that is the best and allows for career progression in and out of the program.
Service members should be allowed to be placed into companies for short stints and then come back to the service. We will lose some of these folks to the companies when they rotate in, but this is the best way to build this program. In this case, Go Blue!

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Nov 18 at 2015 6:35 PM

2015-11-18T18:35:25-05:00

Familiarity doesn't breed contempt; it breeds collaboration. Of course cross-seeding personnel would benefit both private industry and the DOD. Of course, there will have to be controls so that it doesn't result in favoritism.

Response by CW3 Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 19 at 2015 6:51 AM

2015-11-19T06:51:39-05:00

I think it's a good idea, and it has been going on for a while, but it has some problems. For example, my unit does a yearly exchange with a major corporation that yields similar results yearly. Our SMs go to the corporation and usually provide valuable leadership critiques. What our guys bring back is ways to make our internal processes more efficient, ways to decrease bureaucracy, and ways to leverage new tech practices to help do this. However, these changes are always met with institutional obstruction and shut down. In my opinion, this type of integration needs to have a more defined purpose - what does DoD want from the private sector and more importantly what do senior leaders want to change. Then be willing to implement those changes to make DoD more efficient.

Response by Kris Richey made Jan 2 at 2016 2:43 PM

2016-01-02T14:43:43-05:00

I think placing career officers within both successful and cutting edge silicon valley tech companies would serve an excellent purpose: It would 'wake up' a lot of technologically inept officers to the realities that the world of 'cyber' requires more skill, more attention, more talent and more real-world knowledge than thus far realised.