Are Law and Policy Clear and Consistent?

Roles and Responsibilities of the Defense Acquisition Executive and the Chief Information Officer

Daniel Gonzales, Carolyn Wong, Eric Landree, Leland Joe

ResearchPublished Aug 6, 2010

The roles and responsibilities of defense acquisition officers and Department of Defense (DoD) chief information officers are governed by U.S. laws and specified in more detail by a growing and complex body of DoD policy. The authors identify policy governing the design, acquisition, and integration of information technology (IT) and national security systems (NSS) that could lead to potential conflicts among these executives when they exercise their duties in the defense acquisition system. They examine the sources of these conflicts, and find that conflicts in the DoD acquisition process have occurred in the areas of setting IT standards and developing an IT architecture. Recent changes in DoD policy have reduced the potential for conflict in IT architecture development; however, the potential for conflict remains in the DoD standard-setting process. The authors recommend changes to DoD policy that can resolve these conflicts.

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Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 2010
  • Pages: 102
  • Document Number: MG-958-NAVY

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Chicago Manual of Style

Gonzales, Daniel, Carolyn Wong, Eric Landree, and Leland Joe, Are Law and Policy Clear and Consistent? Roles and Responsibilities of the Defense Acquisition Executive and the Chief Information Officer. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2010. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG958.html.
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The research described in this report was prepared for the United States Navy. The research was conducted in the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community.

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