The Ailing Defense Industrial Base

This is the final report of the Defense Industrial Base Panel entitled 'The Ailing Defense Industrial Base: Unready for Crisis.' In preparing the report, the panel held 13 days of hearings, including 4 days of field hearings, and took testimony from 34 witnesses. The panel finds that there has been a serious decline in the nation's defense industrial capability that places our national security in jeopardy. An alarming erosion of crucial industrial elements, coupled with a mushrooming dependence on foreign sources for critical materials, is endangering our defense posture at its very foundation. It has been my privilege to chair this examination of one of the nation's most important national resources, our defense industrial capability.

Overview of the Status of the Defense Industrial Base and DOD's Industrial Preparedness Planning

Though the IMIP and its predecessor TECHMOD have been in existence since the late 1970's a comprehensive evaluation methodology has not yet been developed. There have been several efforts to develop a comprehensive approach; however, they have all fallen short in constructing a satisfactory evaluation method. The major problem is there are several subjective criteria that must be evaluated to determine the success of a program. This subjectivity has made it difficult to provide a comprehensive assessment of an IMIP project. This difficulty has lead to constant debate over the success of the IMIP. This research, however, is designed to quell this on-going debate. The goal of this research is to explore the perceptions of the 'experts in the field' to determine the effectiveness of the IMIP and possible improvements to this program. Through a series of interviews with selected 'experts', a comprehensive picture of the status of this program will be drawn. Results of the survey revealed that the IMIP is a necessary program that is improving the industrial base. However, the program is of limited effectiveness due to the restricted scope of the current effort. Findings also indicate that the program should be centralized and procedures standardized in order to provide for the efficient and effective allocation of the scarce manpower and financial resources. Theses. (FR).