Vice Admiral Williams champions acquisition reform and industrial base mobilization to meet strategic needs

OMAHA, Neb. — At the U.S. Strategic Command Deterrence Symposium on Aug. 6, 2026, Vice Adm. Douglas Williams urged a national mobilization of the defense industrial base to accelerate delivery of the Navy’s strategic weapons systems, tying the push to both workforce expansion and acquisition reform.

“Supercharging the industrial base is something that keeps me up at night,” Williams said. “We have to develop a new missile system, and that massive industrial base for all of those commodities to be integrated down to that lowest widget, has to come into production … those muscles have not been exercised in a long time.”

Williams, who leads Portfolio Acquisition Executive Strategic Systems Programs, outlined two primary lines of effort: building a resilient workforce to meet current mission demands and driving meaningful changes in acquisition. He said PAE SSP’s workforce has grown rapidly since 2022 and will continue to expand to match future program needs, adding that industry hiring must be treated as non-negotiable to avoid schedule slips.

“We have to break the bureaucracy,” Williams said. “We can’t let paperwork slow us down.”

He noted the command began using data-driven analysis to shape hiring plans in 2022 and has seen results from that approach over the past four years. While acknowledging ongoing challenges with the defense industrial base, Williams said programs must be held to standards set by the secretary of war. He pointed to PAE SSP’s historic role as a direct reporting program manager and to new resources available since the command’s designation as a Portfolio Acquisition Executive earlier this year.

Within the acquisition enterprise, he described positive momentum tied to changes enabled by the PAE and DRPM structures and the Office of the secretary of war’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy. Those efforts have provided additional tools for contracting and research and development, including greater use of Other Transaction Authorities to accelerate awards and bring non-traditional partners into the fold. By applying these authorities, he said, programs are gaining flexibility and streamlining contracting processes.

“You have to get out of the starting blocks in a timely fashion,” Williams said, underscoring how the PAE and DRPM designations enable faster execution with greater urgency.

“We can’t rely on the timelines of the past,” Williams said. “In today’s acquisition reform environment, I am measuring my contracting officers based on their speed.”

He added that leadership at both government and industry levels must hold themselves and their programs accountable to that pace.

“That’s the behavior that must be embraced at the leadership level, and it must be put into tangible tactical metrics,” he said.

Williams said he is encouraged by the industrial base’s response, citing investments in new facilities and infrastructure to support modernization of the next-generation Trident II D5 Life Extension 2 weapon system. He also highlighted work aligned with the Navy’s regional deterrence efforts, including the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile and the non-nuclear Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic program.

“It is a privilege to work our program,” Williams said. “Our industry partners have shown that they will always do what is right by us. That is the power of an industrial base that is centered around deterrence.”

Williams appeared alongside Gen. Dale White, direct reporting program manager of Critical Major Weapons Systems; Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher, director of submarine programs; Dr. Brad Wallin, deputy director of Lawrence Livermore National Lab; and Johnathon Caldwell, vice president of strategic and missiles defense systems at Lockheed Martin.

Since 1955, PAE SSP has operated with the agility associated with a DRPM construct, enabling rapid delivery and sustainment of the nation’s sea-based deterrent capabilities. The command sustains the strategic weapon system on Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and supports integration of the D5LE weapon system on the Columbia-class. Looking ahead, PAE SSP is modernizing the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad through development of D5LE2 and advancing regional strike capabilities through development of SLCM-N and the non-nuclear CPS system.