Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England has appointed Booz Allen Hamilton Vice President Ronald Kadish chairman of the Defense Acquisition Performance Assessment (DAPA) project. The newly formed advisory committee will present its recommendations in November 2005 on how the Defense Department can improve the defense acquisition process for major programs. Kadish, a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General, is lending his expertise to the DAPA project on a pro bono basis.

Ronald Kadish

"It's important to understand that the process of reevaluating weapon buying systems has been going on since the Civil War," said Kadish. "So this is part of a long line of adjusting the acquisition process to meet the needs of the country at a given time. I think that the breadth of the DAPA panel's charter is a good indication that it could have a fairy large impact."

In addition to Kadish, the DAPA advisory committee includes Gerald Abbott, Professor of Acquisition at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces; Frank Cappuccio, Vice President of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics; Richard Hawley, a retired U.S. Air Force General; Paul Kern, a retired Army General and Senior Counselor at the Cohen Group; and Donald Kozlowski, a former industry executive.

Over the course of his 34 year military career, Kadish held a wide variety of senior systems acquisition, program management, and command positions to include Program Director for the F-15, F-16, and C-17. In addition, he served as the Director of the Missile Defense Agency and as the Commander of the Electronic Systems Center, the Air Force's Center of Excellence for command and control systems.

story posted September 13, 2005