Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has announced a series of new directives aimed at reforming the Department of War's acquisition process. The announcement was made during remarks at the National War College on Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., on November 7.
The reforms are outlined in three memorandums: "Transforming the Defense Acquisition System into the Warfighting Acquisition System to Accelerate Fielding of Urgently Needed Capabilities to Our Warriors," "Reforming the Joint Requirements Process to Accelerate Fielding of Warfighting Capabilities," and "Unifying the Department's Arms Transfer and Security Cooperation Enterprise to Improve Efficiency and Enable Burden-Sharing." These documents direct significant changes across the department with a focus on strengthening deterrence, rebuilding the industrial base, and accelerating delivery of capabilities to military personnel.
According to Secretary Hegseth, these efforts, together with a newly released Acquisition Transformation Strategy, are intended to redefine how requirements are developed, programs are managed, and industry is engaged. The goal is to ensure that critical capabilities reach America's warfighters more quickly.
"Transforming the Defense Acquisition System into the Warfighting Acquisition System to Accelerate Fielding of Urgently Needed Capabilities to Our Warriors," "Reforming the Joint Requirements Process to Accelerate Fielding of Warfighting Capabilities," and "Unifying the Department's Arms Transfer and Security Cooperation Enterprise to Improve Efficiency and Enable Burden-Sharing"—direct sweeping reforms across the Department of War to strengthen deterrence, rebuild the industrial base, and accelerate capability delivery to the warfighter.
Together with the newly released Acquisition Transformation Strategy, these memorandums redefine how the Department develops requirements, manages programs, and engages industry to ensure America's warfighters receive critical capabilities at the speed of relevance.
More details about these strategies can be found in official department documents available online.
