Defense Industry Revolution
Improvised weapons aren’t just for terrorists anymore!
     
       Talent drives innovation. In return for profit, corporate bureaucracies should supply
talented people with the means to provide life saving military solutions. The corporate
bureaucracies have a vise grip on both the production means and the talented people. Many
large American companies, which exist on taxpayer dollars, have used that money to
monopolize and corral a lot of talent. If an idea doesn't easily show up on the bottom line, it
may as well not even exist. People who think up new military technologies do not  have any
financial or patent rights to it under current (unconstitutional) employment contracts.

   This would seem to be just a intellectual property rights problem for the talented
individual, but it is a problem for all of America. A lot of talent monopolized by the big
companies could rapidly produce new or modified weapons as the need arises on the
battlefield. There are no time-outs in war so the lumbering bureaucracy can get bids and
write contracts. War cannot be fought at the convenience of the business worlds bottom
line. Small and rapidly changing production runs are very difficult to justify to a manufacturer
and would make most bureaucracies freeze up.

   To address this, I would recommend the formation of an Industrial Cadre similar to the
National Guard where skilled personnel would be assembled at a government
manufacturing and design facility to rapidly analyze, design, and build the weapons the
soldiers in the field need. In addition, like the National Guard, the people in the National
Industrial Cadre would have retention rights with their normal civilian employers.

   Since the people in this Industrial Cadre would not be combat soldiers, many skilled
people can be recruited for the National Industrial Cadre that normally would not be
acceptable to the National Guard. There are vast numbers of out-of-shape war gamers with
high levels of tactical computer skills, grumpy old machinists, and bitter downsized high tech
personnel who would jump at the chance at having their skills appreciated. I am not just
talking about pay, but respect and the ability to see the results of their work. The job
market only recognizes a narrow range of skills and talents, then throws the rest away.

   This web page may bring up many questions and issues and I will try to answer them. If
you find it useful, please share it with your peers.

Thank You
Louis P. Quinn