Defense laboratories under review.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: Defense Insider

* The Pentagon's science-and-technology bureaucracy--60,000 employees across 62 agencies in 22 states--is under review. Some of the military's laboratories and research organizations are in dire need of updating. Others simply need new management and business models to better respond to the needs of troops in the field, senior Pentagon officials said.

"While our laboratories are positioned for success today, I believe it's important to challenge our existing practices and consider new business models," Zachary Lemnios; assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, told lawmakers.

Defense S82.T organizations need to improve their ability to transition technologies into new and relevant products, he said. The review will investigate whether the silo-style structure of current laboratories--which report to different chains of command and do not necessarily share their resources--hinders innovation and promotes inefficiency.

"A key element of this assessment will be to examine the...