The way he worded this quote and the points brought up are certainly compelling. That private industry is a competitor with government, over the ninety percent of assets out there that are privately owned. Think about it this way, would you rather have the TSA guarding your business, or a company like Triple Canopy? If you have the money, and you are really concerned about who you want to use for security services, do you ‘hope’ the government can protect you, or do you go for the sure thing and go with private security? And can you even depend upon what limited resources the government has, to be everywhere at once? How about for oil companies or refineries? Or how about information technology or internet giants like Google? Who do these folks turn to for protection, the government or private industry?
My favorite one is the media. Did they beg the government to protect them as they gallop across the world, reporting on disasters or events related to our military and the war? Maybe for the embeds they are able to depend upon the military, but for the most part, they just hire former Special Forces guys to protect them. You won’t hear about the media contracting with the big companies, because they have to have someone to take a giant crap on with sensational stories. So they turn to individuals or small teams to get their high dollar security.
Either way, interesting words coming from the former CEO of Lockheed Martin. Check it out. –Matt
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Industry More Competitor with Government (From ExecutiveBiz)
Norm Augustine’s 2010 Prediction:
“The issues facing the nation and the world increasingly transcend the ability of either government or industry to solve alone. For example, the government clearly has overall responsibility for homeland security, yet 90 percent of the assets to be protected currently reside in the private sector.
“At the same time, as the federal debt grows along with the non-discretionary part of the federal budget, heightening fiscal pressures will be placed on the procurement process. As a consequence, industry is unfortunately likely to find itself more and more a competitor with government than a partner … with proven bad ideas rising from the ashes yet another time (e.g., fixed price research and development contracting). The problem will be exacerbated by the inability/unwillingness of qualified individuals with industry experience to serve terms in government.
“As one who has spent a significant part of his professional life in each government and industry, I truly hope the above is wrong but that would not be how I would bet.”
(Norm Augustine is retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corp.)