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Overview
Throughout the Cold War, the United States maintained an edge
over adversaries by fielding technologically superior warfighting
systems. This strategy depended on a strong research and development
(R&D) effort in both the public and private sectors, and
the community of military laboratories in the Department of
Defense played an essential role in the overall effort. Because of
the importance of these labs during the Cold War, defense planners
continually focused on ways to improve and strengthen them.
The end of the Cold War, however, shifted the focus away
from laboratory improvement toward consolidation, closure,
realignment, and personnel downsizing, as many came to believe
much of the R&D done by the military laboratories could, and
even should, be done by the private sector. Scrutiny of the labs
greatly increased as a constant stream of base realignment and
closure and other cost-reduction efforts sought to decrease their
roles and size. Because these actions focused almost exclusively
on efficiency, little attention was paid to improving the effectiveness
of the labs—their ability to carry out their assigned missions.
Most activity directed at improving laboratory operation
has dealt with incremental modifications of the current governance
model. Currently, the military labs are Government-owned,
Government-operated organizations. As many studies have noted,
this governance model puts the laboratories at a great disadvantage
and complicates their ability to accomplish their assigned
missions. Alternative approaches have been suggested by lab
reformers but have never been implemented. Since the current governance
model is well known, and attempts to modify it are well
documented, this paper discusses several alternative governance
models for the labs, with emphasis on the Government-owned, contractor-
operated and Government-owned corporation models.
While there would be issues with regard to conversion of an existing
military lab to a Government corporation or comparable
entity, the long-term, mission-enabling benefits of such a conversion
could far outweigh any near-term complexities.
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