Innovation to Deployment: Fixing the Pentagon’s Acquisition Gap
From Cache Me If You Can by Center for Strategic and International Studies
May 6, 2026 · 24 min
About this episode
This episode discusses the Pentagon's challenges in acquiring emerging technologies and the reforms needed to improve its procurement processes.
In this episode of Cache Me if You Can, we examine a core challenge at the heart of U.S. technology competition: the Pentagon’s struggle to procure and field emerging technologies at the speed of innovation. Our guest, Jerry McGinn, joins us to unpack the Department of Defense’s latest push to transform its acquisition system, an effort aimed at accelerating how the military identifies, buys, and deploys capabilities in areas like AI, cyber, and autonomous systems. We explore why traditional procurement processes, built for slow-moving hardware programs, are ill-suited for today’s software-driven technologies, and what that means for U.S. competitiveness. The conversation also breaks down the Pentagon’s proposed reforms, from prioritizing commercial solutions to overhauling regulatory barriers, and assesses whether they can meaningfully close the gap between technological innovation and military deployment. Finally, we examine the broader implications for the defense industrial base, emerging tech companies, and U.S. allies, asking a central question: can the United States adapt its acquisition system fast enough to compete in an era defined by rapid technological change?
People in this episode
Guest: Jerry McGinn
Topics covered
- Pentagon acquisition
- emerging technologies
- military procurement
- technological innovation
- defense industrial base
- U.S. competitiveness
Keywords
- acquisition gap
- AI
- cyber
- autonomous systems
- procurement processes
- regulatory barriers
- commercial solutions
- defense technology
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Department of Defense, Pentagon, U.S., Center for Strategic and International Studies
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