Hegseth Promises Major Changes to Pentagon's Purchasing Process
“The defense acquisition system as you know it is dead,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a major speech delivered to industry representatives on November 7th at the National War College in Washington, D.C. Declaring the end of the current defense acquisition framework, Hegseth outlined plans for significant restructuring to enhance efficiency, accelerate capability delivery, and decrease bureaucratic obstacles.
Hegseth identified the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS) as a major source of inefficiency, noting its slow pace was incompatible with modern defense needs. The DoD will discontinue JCIDS, replacing it with three new entities:
The Requirements and Resourcing Alignment Board, which will directly connect funding to top warfighting priorities.
The Mission Engineering and Integration Activity, designed for rapid experimentation and prototyping.
Joint Acceleration Reserve, a dedicated fund to quickly deploy promising capabilities.
Additionally, military branches are instructed to revise their requirements processes to reduce delays, involve industry earlier, and synchronize with the new joint structure.
The Defense Acquisition System will be rebranded as the Warfighting Acquisition System, entailing more than a nominal change. According to Hegseth, this initiative aims to shorten timelines, broaden the defense industrial base, encourage competition, and empower acquisition officials with greater authority and flexibility.
Central to the transformation is placing accountable decision-makers closer to program execution, streamlining layers of oversight, and granting sufficient autonomy to facilitate timely results. Program Executive Officers will transition into Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs), responsible for cost, schedule, and performance decisions within their portfolios and authorized to redirect resources to align with evolving warfighting priorities. New guidance for PAEs will be issued within 180 days.
Additional measures include implementing adaptable testing protocols, exploring multi-track acquisition strategies, maintaining multiple qualified sources through initial production, and fostering module-level competition via modular open systems approaches. The department will evaluate PAE performance based on outcomes rather than regulatory compliance, with longer tenures to reinforce accountability.
The change marks a shift toward a wartime acquisition mindset, emphasizing calculated risk-taking and improved collaboration between the DoD and industry. The reforms main objectives of minimizing bureaucracy and expediting capability delivery are embodied in the elimination of JCIDS and the introduction of PAEs.
The Pentagon also intends to prioritize commercial solutions and harness innovation from across the U.S. economy. It will establish the Wartime Production Unit to expedite urgent acquisition and production priorities by leveraging expertise from both government and industry sectors. The strategy encourages new entrants, incentivizes capital investment in production capacity, and seeks to provide stable demand signals through multi-year procurements and predictable funding.
Recognizing historical challenges in communication and risk aversion within the defense industrial base, Hegseth stressed the importance of cultural change and called upon established contractors to invest in speed and production volume. The DoD is prepared to utilize all available legal authorities if necessary to secure required capabilities. Furthermore, the department will introduce clear incentives for timely delivery and increased capacity and will prohibit monopolistic practices by ensuring multiple suppliers for critical platforms.
Foreign military sales processes will also undergo reform, with oversight consolidated under the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. This integration aims to streamline the entire lifecycle of foreign weapon procurement, from research to sustainment. Exportability considerations will be embedded in the acquisition process from the outset, and profits from such sales are expected to be reinvested to strengthen industrial capacity.
Legislative support for these initiatives comes from the Fostering Reform and Government Efficiency in Defense Act and the Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery Act, with several elements reflected in the forthcoming National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2026. Congressional leaders have highlighted the importance of collaboration between Congress and the Pentagon to achieve these transformational goals, stressing the need for the defense industrial base to adapt to current security demands.
Members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees expressed broad support for the reforms, underscoring the necessity of delivering advanced capabilities efficiently while maintaining cost-effectiveness. The implementation phase will require sustained effort and resource allocation, but stakeholders agree that comprehensive reform of defense acquisition processes is both urgent and imperative.