Is a college degree needed in the defense industrial ecosystem?

To start 2024, the Department of Defense (DOD) released their first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS) in hopes of changing the existing defense industrial base to a “more robust, resilient, and dynamic modernized defense industrial ecosystem.”

The strategy outlines the top four priorities for the DOD: resilient supply chains, workforce readiness, flexible acquisition, and economic deterrence.

When it comes to workforce readiness, William A. LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, believes the private sector also needs creative solutions to recruit a trained and skilled workforce to the defense industrial workforce. During a panel discussion at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, LaPlante highlighted U.S. shipbuilders’ investments in training opportunities for high schoolers.

“If you’ve been to some of these advanced manufacturing [facilities], it looks like they’re at a startup,” LaPlante said during the panel discussion. “It’s really cool. That actually matters. And the government, all of us, can help invest in those areas.”

LaPlante believes the government and private sector can lower barriers to entry for professions requiring highly skilled employees. Although it’s not true for all jobs, LaPlante doesn’t believe a college degree is necessary to fill those openings.

“People without college degrees can do software sometimes a lot better than those of us that are overly educated beyond our intelligence,” LaPlante said.

Read or download the full National Defense Industry Strategy

The DOD would like to prioritize resilient supply chains that can produce products, services, and technologies needed now and in the future at speed, scale, and cost. In the NDIS the DOD incentivizes the industry to invest in extra capacity, manages inventory and stockpile planning to decrease near term risk, continues and expands support for domestic production, drives investment in the organic industrial base and production accelerators, diversifies the supplier base, and invests in new production methods.

For flexible acquisition, the NDIS prioritizes off-the-shelf acquisition where applicable and reasonable; allows the DOD to work with broader industry partners and balances the tension between customization and adopting industry standards.

Economic deterrence allows the DOD to strengthen economic security agreements, fortify alliances to share science and technology, and strengthen enforcement against cyberattacks.

So while the DOD believes the defense industrial base has four priorities, holding a college degree is not one of them. To learn more about the defense industrial base and/or how to become a part of it, register NOW for our How to Enter Defense Manufacturing webinar!