Defense Secretary James Mattis has issued a pair of memoranda that direct Defense Department officials to develop a plan to restructure the current Office of the Under Secretary for Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics and review the core business functions of military departments, DoD News reported Tuesday.In the first memo, Mattis asked his deputy defense secretary to lead the division of AT&L into a research and engineering office and an acquisition and support office as required by the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.
He said the plan should include the designation of a DoD chief innovation officer as well as possible strategies to manage innovation organizations and facilitate agile and rapid acquisition efforts at the department.
Mattis also instructed DoD to create an initial framework to optimize its organizational structure and processes that support information management and cyber missions.
The second memo calls for the department to identify “business services and tasks that no longer merit individual military department approaches.”
Mattis said he aims to help increase departmental efficiency and effectiveness through a cross-enterprise consolidation of DoD business operations.
He expects defense personnel to submit interim reports by the end of the month.
