Cutting Bureaucracy, Countering Drones, and Rethinking Battlefield Risk with Rep. Ryan Zinke

That's really important in the current environment because, like you said, things are moving very quickly.

And so getting the equipment in the hands of our allies and partners is critical.

How about capability development and investing on the training side? Do you think we're doing enough there, Congressman? I

think there's a lot of room for improvement.

I kind of give the example of a shotgun.

I can buy the best shotgun in the world, but I'm not going to be very effective unless I train with it.

Cyber security is the same way.

A reliance on software... uh or in the hardware side also requires training you know what to do and there is an interface on that training and to make sure you respond correctly so i think the training side is important probably we need to push that training modules a little little harder some of it is uh you know what are we training to because the battlefield is changing rapidly But the systems behind it require expertise.

And sometimes that expertise, as you know, requires months of training to be good.

Now, the fortunate thing is we have units that are really, really good.

But that has to extend to the front line and some of the units that historically have not been Tier 1 or Tier 2.

They're supporting elements.

And the U.S. does rely on the National Guard.

And that training aspect probably needs to be improved.

Yeah.

Well, you touched on two really important things, I think.

Number one is you can get the best equipment in the world, but if you're not trained to use it, you're not going to be effective.

And the second point that you raised was the whole interagency coordination piece, which I think is critical.

And these are the vantage points that we are trying to address at ELISIR with the work that we are doing around delivering effective counter UAS preparedness trainings.

In your experience, especially since you have been on the front lines and you have led joint and special operations teams, what do you think really produced readiness in the battlefield in practice? Was it equipment? Was it doctrine? Was it authorities, rehearsals, sustainment, or something else?

I think it's a formula that every piece has variable components.

it lives in the context of the coefficient

but as a formula you do need the hardware

you do need the training you also need leadership on where to apply it there's a lot of wasted effort out there of targeting or evaluation on quite frankly uh issues that aren't going to change the battlefield itself it's not going to move the needle one way or the other I think you have to prioritize where you're going to focus.

A lot of times we can do a lot better than that.

That's really important in the current environment because, like you said, things are moving very quickly.

And so getting the equipment in the hands of our allies and partners is critical.

How about capability development and investing on the training side? Do you think we're doing enough there, Congressman? I

think there's a lot of room for improvement.

I kind of give the example of a shotgun.

I can buy the best shotgun in the world, but I'm not going to be very effective unless I train with it.

Cyber security is the same way.

A reliance on software... uh or in the hardware side also requires training you know what to do and there is an interface on that training and to make sure you respond correctly so i think the training side is important probably we need to push that training modules a little little harder some of it is uh you know what are we training to because the battlefield is changing rapidly But the systems behind it require expertise.

And sometimes that expertise, as you know, requires months of training to be good.

Now, the fortunate thing is we have units that are really, really good.

But that has to extend to the front line and some of the units that historically have not been Tier 1 or Tier 2.

They're supporting elements.

And the U.S. does rely on the National Guard.

And that training aspect probably needs to be improved.

Yeah.

Well, you touched on two really important things, I think.

Number one is you can get the best equipment in the world, but if you're not trained to use it, you're not going to be effective.

And the second point that you raised was the whole interagency coordination piece, which I think is critical.

And these are the vantage points that we are trying to address at ELISIR with the work that we are doing around delivering effective counter UAS preparedness trainings.

In your experience, especially since you have been on the front lines and you have led joint and special operations teams, what do you think really produced readiness in the battlefield in practice? Was it equipment? Was it doctrine? Was it authorities, rehearsals, sustainment, or something else?

I think it's a formula that every piece has variable components.

it lives in the context of the coefficient

but as a formula you do need the hardware

you do need the training you also need leadership on where to apply it there's a lot of wasted effort out there of targeting or evaluation on quite frankly uh issues that aren't going to change the battlefield itself it's not going to move the needle one way or the other I think you have to prioritize where you're going to focus.

A lot of times we can do a lot better than that.