Marine Corps Gen. Michael Hagee told reporters in Washington today that progress via the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System is moving too slowly. He stopped short of criticizing the JCIDS concept, but said, “The process … would I like to see it go faster? Yes.” JCIDS is at the core of the Pentagon’s shift away from service-specific weapons development toward a process that leads to joint decisions about what capabilities DOD needs. “I would agree the process is frustrating and slow,” said Hagee, adding that from his perspective the system needs better modeling. Too much of what currently is in use is inherently manual in nature.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.