Video summary
The nature of warfare is evolving at an unprecedented pace, necessitating that the Navy and Marine Corps deliver advanced ships, aircraft, and combat systems to operators faster than ever before. To maintain this critical edge, the department recognized that traditional business practices rooted in a compliance-based bureaucracy were no longer sufficient. Under the old system, program executive officers (PEOs) were responsible for building specific assets like ships or aircraft, but their authority was severely fractured because they did not control the contract writers, testing engineers, maintenance mechanics, or technical warrant holders. This lack of direct oversight meant that when problems arose, PEOs could not resolve them independently; instead, they had to seek permission from various other departments, a process that often resulted in delays lasting months or even years.
To address these inefficiencies, the department eliminated the division between PEO and systems command to establish new roles known as Portfolio Acquisition Executives, or PAEs. A PAE serves as a single accountable mission boss who owns the entire team and every problem associated with an asset from its inception to its retirement. By bringing contract writers, engineers, sustainment crews, and technical experts directly under the PAE's command, the organization removed the bureaucratic layers that previously slowed decision-making. This structure grants the PAE absolute authority to make immediate decisions on the spot without needing to convene committees or wait for external approvals, ensuring that working systems reach sailors and marines exactly when they are needed most.
Beyond streamlining internal operations, the new PAE model empowers leaders to adopt a more agile approach to technology acquisition. Instead of spending billions of dollars and waiting decades to invent new technologies from scratch, PAEs are authorized to purchase commercial off-the-shelf solutions, adapt them for military use, and field them immediately. This shift away from analyzing problems in isolation allows the department to keep pace with rapid technological change and deliver a larger, more lethal fleet at a significantly lower cost. By cutting out non-value-added bureaucratic steps, the initiative not only saves taxpayers millions of dollars but also ensures that the military can stay ahead of emerging threats by rapidly integrating innovative capabilities into its operational forces.
Read the full video transcript
[music]
>> The nature of warfare is changing at
lightning speed.
>> [music]
>> To maintain our edge, the Navy Marine
Corps must deliver advanced ships,
aircrafts, and combat systems to the
warfighter faster than ever before.
Let's start with the obvious.
Petting on business practices simply
weren't cutting it.
We were buying and building things in a
compliance-based bureaucracy.
We lost [music] our way.
More concerned with checking boxes and
following rigid processes than the
[music] only thing that matters, getting
a working system into the hands of a
sailor or marine when they need it.
Under our old system, a program
executive officer, PEO, was in charge of
building a ship or an aircraft.
But there was a catch.
They didn't actually control the people
writing the contracts, [music]
the engineers testing the systems,
the maintenance mechanics,
or the tech warrant holders.
Authority was fractured.
If a problem popped up, the PEO couldn't
just fix it. They had to ask other
departments for permission, losing
months or years in the process.
That is why we eliminated the PEO Syscom
divide and established portfolio
acquisition executives, or PAEs.
A PAE is a single accountable [music]
mission boss. Instead of having to ask
other departments for help, the PAE owns
the entire team and the entire problems
from cradle to grave.
The contract writers,
the engineers, the sustainment crews,
and even the tech warrant holders. They
all work directly for the PAE.
If there's a roadblock, the PAE doesn't
need a committee. They have absolute
[music] authority to make the decision
on the spot.
By eliminating non-value added layers of
bureaucracy, we are saving the taxpayer
millions.
Furthermore, each PAE has a [music]
rapid capability cell.
Instead of spending billions and waiting
a decade to invent a new technology from
scratch, PAEs are empowered to buy
commercial technology [music]
off-the-shelf, adapted, and field it
immediately.
We're done analyzing the problem.
Change happens now, and the PAE model
ensures we deliver a larger, more lethal
fleet to the warfighter
>> [music]
>> at lower cost ahead of the threat.