By Bill Greenwalt on March 09, 2021 at 8:00 AM If the new DOD task force on China is serious about looking at the state of our technology competition, it needs to understand that the balance of technological power has shifted – and it has primarily been a self-inflicted wound. The best ideas no longer arise in a US defense industry encumbered by 60 years of Stalinist-style central planning and security controls, but from commercial sources that once were primarily in the U.S. and are now globalized. Bill Greenwalt What is most important is that, in these private industries, time-based innovation, experimentation, and operational prototyping are the coin of the realm. For better or worse, the way the U.S. military innovated in the 1950s, before well-intended “reforms” stifled creativity and risk-taking, is now the dominant model for commercial innovators worldwide, including in adversary nations. To make matters worse, the current U.S. defense innovation model’s lack of value and disregard for time now keep some of the best firms and engineers from working on defense solutions.