WASHINGTON — A week-and-a-half after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered a sweeping centralization of most service-run drone programs under one manager, no one’s yet been named to fill that powerful role.
There aren’t even widespread rumors about who is under consideration for the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager job, colloquially being called the “drone czar.” But in a town where personalities often trump policy, experts told Breaking Defense that who runs the new office — and how well they manage the inevitable intramural frictions — matters more than what’s written in the formal memorandum [PDF] establishing the office.
“A memo by itself never solves anything, but in this case I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the secretary,” said Jack Shanahan, a retired Air Force three-star who led similarly centralized high-tech efforts as head of Project Maven and the Joint AI Center. “I put this in the category of ‘better to be bold and move out right now, than to wait for a perfect solution in a year or two.’”
But there are plenty of devils in the details, Shanahan told Breaking Defense. “So much will depend on personality and service support,” he said. “If this DRPM stays lean, has the unmistakable and continuous backing of [top leaders], works with rather than against the services, and spends a lot of time on the Hill getting congressional buy-in, it may turn out to be a master stroke. If all that doesn’t happen, it could end up looking like the F-35 JPO.”
