Morgan Plummer
Naperville
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Articles by Morgan Plummer
Why the U.S. Military Shouldn't Organize Around AI… Yet
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series exploring key AI policy choices faced by the Department of Defense and Congress.
Operating AI in the Gray Zone: Drawing Clear Lines Before They Blur
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series exploring key AI policy choices faced by the Department of Defense & Congress. Please also read the first “Four AI Policy Choices Policymakers Can’t Afford to Get Wrong” and the second, “Warfighters, Not Engineers, Decide What AI Can Be Trusted.” Today, and not at some distant point in the future, AI algorithms can shape public perception, disrupt markets, and steer missiles.
Warfighters, Not Engineers, Decide What AI Can Be Trusted
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series exploring key AI policy choices faced by the Department of Defense and Congress. Please also read the first: “Four AI Policy Choices Policymakers Can’t Afford to Get Wrong.” If you ask almost anyone who has ever tried to get a new capability into the hands of the U.S. military what they think of the acquisition process, you’ll get a consistent answer: It’s broken. It’s not broken because the people inside it are malicious, stupid, or incompetent.
Four AI Policy Choices Policymakers Can’t Afford to Get Wrong
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles. Subsequent articles will examine answers to each of the four questions laid out below. As Congress works to hammer out the final details of the National Defense Authorization Act, most of the attention will fall on tactical fights. The fights around final language and program funding matter, and the final set of AI-related provisions will help push AI policy for the Department of Defense in new and important ways.
When It Comes to Strategy, People Are Everything
“It’s about the people, stupid!” If James Carville were advising the Department of Defense on its approach to modernization and innovation, he might well utter these words to anyone willing to listen with the same sense of exasperation with which he uttered his original admonishment to Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. Read Full Article »
When It Comes to Strategy, People Are Everything
“It’s about the people, stupid!” If James Carville were advising the Department of Defense on its approach to modernization and innovation, he might well utter these words to anyone willing to listen with the same sense of exasperation with which he uttered his original admonishment to Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The Pandemic Shut Down Other DoD Innovation Efforts, So We Took Ours Online
Hackathons sponsored by the National Security Innovation Network are going virtual, starting with an urban-warfare challenge. The pandemic has all but shut down many of the ways the Defense Department uses to spur innovation. Enter the online hackathon. For several years, our DoD program office — the National Security Innovation Network, or NSIN — has hosted in-person hackathons: rapid-design events in which we give participants a challenge and a deadline, often just 48 hours or less.
A Modest Proposal for Military Suicide and Military Sexual Assault
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth article in a series on defense reform in the next administration. Please read parts one, two, and three here at War on the Rocks. Military suicide and sexual assault remain intractable problems, despite extraordinary efforts by the Department of Defense and Congress. What more can be done in the next administration? A place to start is with better data. This suggestion might not seem that far-reaching, but it is actually nothing short of revolutionary.
The Chickens Are Ready to Eat: The Fatal Ambiguity of “Readiness”
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series on defense reform in the next administration. Please read parts one and two here at War on the Rocks. What is the purpose of the Department of Defense? What is, to put it only slightly differently, its reason for being? Such existential questions can be clarifying. For our part, we believe that the purpose of the Department of Defense is to provide ready and sustainable military forces to protect the nation’s vital interests.
The Pentagon's Fig Tree: Reforming The Military Health System
Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of a series by two former Pentagon officials on defense reform. Sylvia Plath famously writes about the consequences of indecision in her novel The Bell Jar. In recounting a dream, the main character of that book says: I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose.
Defense Reform in The Next Administration | RealClearDefense
As the country prepares for a new presidential administration, those with an interest in national security unsurprisingly turn their eyes to the Pentagon, contemplating what changes in policy and personnel the transition will bring. With a rising China, a resurgent Russia, a persistent Islamic State (ISIL) — just to name a few challenges — there will be no shortage of crises awaiting the next secretary of defense.
Defense Reform in the Next Administration
It appears to me that one TREMENDOUS impediment to the Pentagon is that they ask Congress for funding in certain areas, they are given the funding, but then Congress tells them where to spend it. What the hell good does that do? I believe fixing that would go an exceedingly long way to improving procurement. Another is the Pentagon needs to lead in program objectives. Too recently have they looked to industry for those objectives. Is the Pentagon clueless as to what it wants?
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