The Department of Defense (DOD) increasingly recognizes that it must do more to spur innovation to maintain its technological superiority. This article suggests that DOD’s leadership make time for David McCullough’s recent biography, The Wright Brothers, as an aviation anecdote chock full of...

Once the nation commits to engage in heavy, sustained military action abroad, particularly including the deployment of ground forces, political support is scrupulously observed and dissected. One of the most graphic factors influencing that support is the number of military soldiers who have...

This brief paper discusses the Obama administration's public procurement agenda, major trends that influence the acquisition regime (that now encompasses $500B annually), and significant challenges the administration faces in improving the value it receives for the money it spends. It concludes...

At the end of July 2008, the media reported that 4,600 service members have died in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. But reporting only military fatalities understates the human cost of America's engagements in these regions by nearly a fourth. On the modern, outsourced...

This essay discusses Jon Michaels’ thoughtful and thought-provoking new book, Constitutional Coup: Privatization’s Threat to the American Republic (Harvard, 2017). In the book, Michaels recommends not only that we apply the brakes to the outsourcing train, but that the very future of our...

This chapter concludes a book that grew out of a 2015 conference hosted by the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, which brought together defense industry leaders, academics, and lawyers to discuss ethical challenges to the defense industry. Authors from the...

This short piece discusses the Federal Circuit's recent decision in Palantir USG, Inc. v. United States, No. 17-1465 (Fed. Cir. September, 2018), affirming that “the Army failed to determine whether commercial items meet or could be modified to meet the agency’s needs and that, by failing to...

Modern public procurement laws — such as the U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulation — are based on the principle of efficiency. Recent revisions have introduced the concepts of sustainability and anti-corruption. Decision makers are now confronted with new goals that ask for trade-offs....

This article examines how letters of marque could be revived to effectively empower the private sector to assist governments in dealing with modern piracy. It examines Somali piracy, the development and different uses of letters of marque and privateers, the current legal framework relating to...