Driscoll says the Army has ‘been a bad customer’ in the defense purchasing process

You've said industry needs to move faster, but the Army itself has a long track record on requirements, churn and delay

And we talked a little bit about this earlier on in the interview, but what are you doing to bring more discipline to your side of the relationship when it comes to requirements

How are you really looking at addressing some of the things that the Army gets stuck on

What are some of the kind of tangible things you're trying to put in place to ensure that we don't get stuck in requirements

and also making sure you get over that valley of death between requirements and actually getting something you want and need

So qualitatively, and I have said this to every company we've had to deliver

the news that we're not going to continue to purchase some other things. We own it as an army

We have been a bad customer to them. I think we oftentimes are inward looking and we say, woe is us

Industry is not delivering what we ask, but I don't think that's a fair telling of the story

We have created the behaviors we don't like, and we have to own that. And so the first thing we're trying to do is own it

The second thing is fix it. And so rather than just continue to talk about where things could be better, theoretically, what General George and I are trying to do is take specific projects like Flora as an example

We had a call, I want to say 10 days ago, 14 days ago, with the CEOs of 14 of the largest suppliers

So it's a lot of the big companies in America. Their CEOs were on the call

I led with, hey, we've created bad behavior. We want this flora

We want the first prototype and not the 36 months you think you can do it. We want it in 12 months

We, the United States of America, can show that we can build things again

We first flew an example of this in 2018. We can do this

But I know that we are the ones putting up a bunch of impediments, and what we want to do with them is we want to risk some of our own cash

And so we will be a better customer when we are putting in some of the dollars up front

because then it makes us better. And I think that that is incredibly important. I think the next thing is our requirement lists on the front end

We just require too many things. 90% in one year is better than 100% in 12

And so we are going to have to cut some of those and just accept that exquisite is not sufficient anymore

We need some speed. And then the very last one is on kind of our testing

and the way that we actually validate that what they made is something we are willing to pay for and reward them for is insane

and oftentimes. And so what we told them is very specifically, if at any of those buckets

you need us to do a thing, send it to us. We gave them our personal emails in an email. We've

probably had three of them take us up on it And I think we at about 100 batting average for getting waivers and looking at things and saying we can cut there If it saves you six months and it added us 0 of value let make the cut If we need to add it later to a different version we can do it But what we are trying to do is be collaborative

And the very last one is, Deputy Secretary of Defense Feinberg and I have talked about this

with Chief a lot. One of the things that made American, the manufacturing base scale so quickly

in our world wars, in my opinion, is we actually put soldiers on the manufacturing floor. So they

were there when something went wrong and they needed their federal government to step up and help fix it, whether it was go get aluminum supply or wave regulation for speed. We actually had

people there. And so one of the things we've talked about is taking kind of a pre-war time

footing with our manufacturing and our industrial base and starting to embed soldiers with them who

can report directly up to the Pentagon and we can tag in whatever resources are necessary

Okay. Senator Wicker said last week that he saw a lack of logistics investment in your transformation plan, given the Army's role in the Pacific and the important role that logistics and sustainment will play there

So how is the Army looking at logistics and ensuring it has the right investments in place going forward

I know, for instance, there was a program cancellation in the memo related to the maneuver support vessel light

You know, that's obviously something that wasn't working out. But there's a lack of clarity on how you fill that role, you know, moving equipment around theaters

So can you talk a little bit about what you're looking at there? I think when we think of the United States Army, we think about it as like two very discrete functions

Function one, and I'll say them in the reverse order I normally do. Function one is a very lethal killing machine that sits on behalf of the American public for use by the president and secretary of defense to keep us safe

Function two is a large enterprise business that moves people and things around the country and the world

Logistics obviously spans both of those functions. One of the places we think we can capture the most low-hanging fruit to massively move forward how we do our logistics

particularly with contested logistics and the tyranny of distance in Indo-Paycom, is occurring in the commercial sector

And so if you look at these big, massive companies like Google, I mean, they are putting billions and billions into drone delivery and all of these different things

And so what we're hoping to do is, and what we're in the early stages of, is figuring out partnerships with them so that we can have those types of drone deliveries on our bases

We can have them coming from the PX to the soldier's home. We can have them going from the PX to the field

We can have them in the field testing exercises where we layer in some contestation to the exercises

There seems to be a big demand from a lot of these companies because they going to get some learnings in this They just can replicate anywhere else And so kind of very broadly to Senator Wicker remarks I agree I don think this first iteration of the Army Transformation Initiative was this focus

on logistics, but I wholeheartedly agree. And I think General George would too

that that is one of the biggest problems of our time. But I am most optimistic that the lessons

in the consumer segment and sector are going to transfer there the fastest

Okay. Shifting gears, there's been a backlash over the deployment of National Guard troops to support ICE and border security operations

So in your view, what role should the Guard be playing in these kinds of missions

And you testified last week that the Guard would be working within its legal bounds, but I don't think that fully satisfied lawmakers with concerns about this

So if you could just elaborate a little bit on your views on this

Yeah, I think the president is absolutely right. He ran on a commitment and a mandate to the American people that he would keep their streets and their cities and their communities safe

I think the National Guard is an amazing asset that we as a nation have had for a very long time, and it is purpose-built for all sorts of different functions

And the function that the president and secretary of defense are using them in in California is a perfectly good function

I think the Guard are trained in this. They have a lot of experience. I think protecting federal personnel and property is a good use case of our guard, and I'm incredibly proud of them

The Army is celebrating its 250th birthday this year, and there's a lot going on this month to honor that milestone

However, there's a great deal of controversy surrounding the cost and the effort that's going into the military parade that's happening

You know, lawmakers, I think, pushed back last week over the cost of the parade and how that money could be spent elsewhere, like, you know, caring for veterans or military families

So what's the strategic value of putting tanks on Constitution Avenue? And you spoke about this being, you know, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

So can you elaborate a little bit on, you know, why do you feel that this is that time

This is honestly one. In the 110 days here, I have friends who vehemently disagree with me

And so I'm actually kind of flummoxed that so many people are taking the opposite side of this one

I guess to the first point, this happened 100 and what would it be, 160 years before President Trump was born

And so calling it a birthday celebration from him, I just like it doesn't match my experience in the building

It doesn't match anything I've heard from the White House. It just doesn't seem accurate

And I think it interesting that I fundamentally think our soldiers and our veterans and our communities deserve this I think that they have sacrificed for this nation The Army is older than our country and it an amazing time to tell the story of all of the things they done throughout time

whether it's wildfires in California, flooding in North Carolina. I talked to a colonel this morning who's on the International Space Station

The Army just has had this incredible role in addition to providing security to the American people

And so just on that basis, I think it's an incredible opportunity. but then very specifically for recruiting. I think that there is a sense of pride and patriotism that has been rebuilding since President Trump came back into office

And I think this is an incredible time for America's youth to get to see their army in all her majesty

And I think my guess is, and there will be quantitative data around this, so I will come back to you and tell you whether I was right or wrong

I think our recruitment centers are going to be busting at the seams in the months following this

And I think even more importantly, because we're on a recruiting tear right now, I'm hoping young people who are four years away from joining and five years away from joining and maybe early in their career but thinking about switching, I hope they catch a taste for what it's like to serve in the United States Army and just be a part of a group that is so driven by excellence, so driven by patriotism, and so driven by this idea that, like, they're caring for their fellow community members that, like, when I testified on it, I actually believe it would be the wrong decision

decision not to invest against this moment so that America could get a better glimpse of its army

Final question. What should Americans expect from their army three years from now

How will it look different than today? I hope when they see soldiers, I hope their soldiers

are empowered with tools like an iPhone and a Tesla. And I don't mean those literally

but I hope their next tanks are software coming out into the world being embodied by this hardware

where the software on the tank or the software on the future wheeled vehicle

and the software on the rotary wing aircraft is all updatable and near real time

and we can sub in and out based off the threats what they need. I hope they have devices that are syncing with each other across space and time

and syncing with their sensors and syncing with their things so that they're able to do things like counter drone protection

And I hope kind of more broadly, I hope that they see an Army that is well-trained

and well-manned like it is today. I hope that they see an Army that cares about them

and is contributing to their communities. And then I guess what I hope is that they see an Army

that is ready for the next 247 years to get to 500 to stand by the nation and be there for them

with whatever they need of us. All right, well, thank you so much for joining us here

and happy birthday to the Army. Thank you. Thanks for having me