NDIA Statement on National Defense Strategy

NDIA Statement on National Defense Strategy

ARLINGTON, VA – Upon publication of the National Defense Strategy, the National Defense Industrial Association releases this statement:

NDIA applauds Defense Secretary James Mattis’ National Defense Strategy calling for a renewed focus and energy to respond to and shape the competitive strategic environment facing our nation and its military. NDIA and its members look forward to partnering with the Defense Department and Congress to deliver on the promises this strategy envisions—especially through its expanded concept of a healthy, responsive National Defense Innovation Base that delivers the most advanced equipment and services for the warfighters of today and tomorrow.

As noted in the strategy, having grown accustomed to superiority and overmatch, we find ourselves in an environment where “every domain is contested—air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace.” Reclaiming overmatch requires that an expanded notion of a defense industrial/innovation base is built by investments in its workforce, reduced barriers to entry for dynamic new businesses and their ideas, streamlined sales to allies and partners, and an acquisition system that rewards speed and innovation.

Still, the difficult work of resourcing remains unfinished. Government funding expires tonight. Absent a short-term measure to fund the government and a long-term deal to raise or suspend Budget Control Act caps, indiscriminate sequestration cuts to accommodate a $549 billion cap on defense spending will prevail. NDIA urges rapid action to reach an agreement that provides defense funds for the remainder of FY 18 and fully funds the National Defense Strategy released today along with a return to normal order and budget stability to realize its goals.