Over the last few hours calls have gone out from the head of Pentagon acquisition to senior defense industry types to stand by for a Monday morning briefing on cost cutting or efficiency measures, setting off a frenzy of speculation and concern. We hear Ash Carter will make a major public announcement about acquisition processes that afternoon.
Industry is mighty worried.
"This is so last minute," said one industry observer, noting that the Pentagon has shared no information with industry yet. "If this was seen as collaborative effort on how to fix challenges you would see much less anxiety since it would then be predictable."
Another defense source said "industry "is quite apprehensive about what cumulative impact this may have on profits."
How concerned should they be? We don't have much information yet but we hear this marks follow up to Defense Secretary Robert Gates' speech at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas.
