Do you remember the term Military Industrial complex from the mid 70's? If so you may be interested in following a particular train of thought that is uniquely unfolding in the hear and now. As you know the period between the end of Vietnam and the period of the first gulf war there were on again off again commitments to the military, and even when the DOD systems were showing green, the narrowness of the participants was virtually assured.
Things began to change post Gulf War 1 but the leadership of the institutional structures themselves were operating under the yellow caution light, where movement though indicated, was often stalemated when any end game got near. The Military Industrial complex is a partnership between a network of a dozen or so prime contractors THE OLIGARCHS and the strategic and tactical missions of the country as they relate to Space, Land,Sea and Air. The divisions of interests are wide, the burocracies deep and the doctrines which overlay each had been cast in seemingly near isolation. Accept for the concept of combined arms, the missions and structures of the system itself were captive to their own entrenched interests.
9 11 was a seminal event not only for our immediate present but will play a causative role in reshaping the entire world, providing a unique blend of both momentum and application. Combining the event with the in place leadership, and we find ourselves looking at a whole new era for innovation, and achievement.
IMO, had Mr Rumsfeld not been sitting at the desk as Sec of Defense, the outcomes would not have been the same, and the results would have been profoundly more troubling.
9-11, Mr Rumsfeld, the Oligarchic defense establishment, and the Entreprenurs have all come together under a mood change since 9-11, the results of which are only now unfolding.
The Oligarchic defense industry, has enormous talent embedded within it. It is perhaps the only organism on earth with knowledge in particular theoretical areas. Combine that knowledge with their expert project management and the whole idea of systems integration to a mission not planned, and we have the beginnings of a restructuring of interests unfolding, whose consequences are far reaching.
9-11 presented the defense and national interests with a complex arrangement of problems which lay outside the doctrinal SOP. Our leadership and in particular Mr Rumsfeld and his team at DOD including all heads of the force structure all the way down to the service men and women.
Together DOD, and private industry accomplished amazing feats in a short period of time by melding the oligarchs with the entreprenuers, who existed outside the doctrinal mission as marginal contributors, to the system and its then perceived needs.
For someone who loves technology, I've followed many small and mid sized companies who had been primarily marginalized by the DOD Procurement system. Many of these small and mid cap concerns felt that their expectations for defense related business might never be met, with foresight, these same entreprenuers applied their particular skills to the commercial sector and were beginning to have a profound impact in a wide range of applications when 9-11 came a calling.
In my recently published SIP portfolio I have listed some of our best most promising companies, some of whom will emerge simultaneously as contributors to future DOD key sub contractors while at the same time they are emerging as commercial applications market leaders.
IMO, this has never happened before.
For those interested in fundamentals, these are the most exciting times of our lives. From this place at this time under this leadership we will accomplish through complex systems integration the arrangement of theoretical and the physical in such a manner which will launch our economy on a trajectory we only dreamed about.
Never before has the mechanism of this on again off again system of dependent parts, met such a disconcerting challenge, where its component parts were so completely shuffled by the effects of a single event.
Who would have believed that the mix between these disparate pieces and events, could have ever come together so well? So many new voices, integrated to so many entrenched systems all willing and able to assume their role so completely. |
