Author Archive

Dan Ward

Senior Principal Systems Engineer, MITRE

Dan Ward
Dan Ward is a Senior Principal Systems Engineer at the MITRE Corporation. A retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, he is the author of LIFT, The Simplicity Cycle, and F.I.R.E.
Ideas

The X-Men and Avengers have lessons for international defense cooperation

We train as we fight, but we don’t buy as we fight.

  • Dan Ward
Ideas

Get to Know the Middle Tier of Awesome…Er, Acquisition

Speeding good ideas into reality through rapid prototyping and fielding is awesome. Don’t let disbelievers muck it up.

  • Pete Modigliani, Dan Ward and Matt MacGregor
Ideas

HIMARS’ Hidden Superpower and Other Acquisition Lessons from Ukraine

With no U.S. troops on the ground, acquisition professionals are the operators making the difference.

  • Dan Ward
Ideas

Shake Off the Pentagon's Industrial-Age Bureaucracy

Five disciplines and five initiatives can help the U.S. military better adapt to 21st-century threats.

  • Dan Ward, Matt MacGregor and Pete Modigliani
Ideas

The Air Force's Kessel Run Is the John Travolta of Defense Acquisitions

Right now, the much-hyped software-development office is doing fine work. Let’s remember that when the inevitable backlash arrives.

  • Dan Ward
Ideas

We’re Not Playing Acquisition Pac-Man Anymore

Today’s defense acquisition officials have freedom of movement akin to an open-world game. They need to use it.

  • Dan Ward
Ideas

The Weapons of Tomorrow Must Come Cheaper, Faster and Simpler Than Before

Instead of trying to build silver bullets for the future, policymakers and industry must become better at responding to the unpredictable.

  • Dan Ward