“I calculated how much you wasted”: confronting defense vendors | Lt. Gen. Tony Hale (Ret.)

When retired Lieutenant General Tony Hale, former Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (G-2) of the United States Army, took over as the Army's G-2, the intelligence community's flagship system was sitting in a box in the corner of TOCs because it took eight or nine hours to set up. His 45-day assessment across all three components, active, Guard, and Reserve, told him exactly how far off track things were, and the fixes were not primarily technical.Hale, joined by returning guest retired Lieutenant General Bob Ashley, walks Ian through what actually drove adoption of the Army Intelligence Data Platform: Soldier Touch Points that gave end users direct input on interface design before fielding. He went to Palantir, sat down with Akhi and Shaw, brought Karp to his office, and laid out what the field had told him. With other vendors, he was less diplomatic. He calculated exactly how much Army money they had wasted and told them directly. When a contractor unveiled a new aircraft and the VP quoted the build cost, Hale realized he was paying far more, ran the traps on where the extra charges were coming from, and forced the correction.Now 105 days out of uniform after 36 years and roughly seven years deployed, Hale's sharpest observation for the defense tech community is this: companies genuinely want to contribute to national security, but they have no idea how a soldier or unit would actually employ what they're building. The translation problem is the bottleneck, not the technology. His recommendation: build noncompetitive industry advisory boards that work problem sets left of development, under NDA, outside the competitive process, so leaders can engage thought leaders and technology builders before requirements are locked.Topics discussed:Conducting a 45-day cross-component assessment to reset Army intelligence modernizationSoldier Touch Points as the adoption mechanism for the Army Intelligence Data PlatformConfronting vendors with calculated cost waste on Army programsUncovering a major cost delta between an aircraft's build price and Army billingBuilding noncompetitive industry advisory boards for early problem-solvingWhy TTPs from one theater cannot transfer to another theater's fightTranslating operational needs for companies that want to solve defense problemsLive virtual constructive training to close the schoolhouse-to-unit equipment gapDisclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense, the U.S. Government, or any of its affiliated agencies.