Late at Night is a book that everyone can relate to. Do you sit up at night and ponder over certain events that have happened in your life? It is Late at Night, includes Short stories of different people who have been through life changing events. You will see how they coped with being heart broken, taken advantage of, beaten, and lives depression. Take a deeper look into the lives of Kelly, Mark, and Ray, as they deal with the hardships that life has thrown each at them. Youll want to kee...

Long ago, during each Christmas season, children worried for weeks whether they would get special gifts, treats, and treasures in their stockings or be stuck with nothing but coal. Parents claimed coal was for children who annoyed brothers and sisters or disobeyed parents, but sometimes even those who behaved the best would get nothing but a stocking full of black disappointment. There was no Santa to deliver gifts to all, and when the Christmas elf visited their home, children never knew ...

There has been a significant increase in the proliferation of military uninhabited aerial systems (UAS), as shown by an increase in total UAS and loitering munition arms transfers, which rose from 736 units in 2001–2010 to 1,734 units in 2011–2020. To better understand this development and the prominent role of UAS in recent conflicts, this report seeks to answer three key questions: (1) Which countries are driving the greater demand for UAS? (2) Where is the supply to meet the demand comi...

Defense Acquisition Trends 2021 is the latest in an annual series of CSIS reports examining trends in what the DoD is buying, how the DoD is buying it, and from whom the DoD is buying using data from the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). This report analyzes the current state of affairs in defense acquisition by combining detailed policy and data analysis to provide a comprehensive overview of the current and future outlook for defense acquisition. It provides critical insights into ...

A central player in the DoD’s organizational approach to communications is the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). Today, DISA manages the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN)—a communications network serving as the core connectivity between the various networks of the military services and defense agencies, operating around the world and across the internet with data storage systems, satellite communications, and other advanced data transport capabilities. In addition, DISA p...

In a time of austerity, the U.S. Department of Defense has drawn budgetary savings primarily from reductions in private-sector contracting. The 2000-2012 edition of this report by National Security Program for Industry and Resources (NSPIR) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) examines this trend as well as its broader implications for defense industrial policy. The report analyzes contracting for products, services, and research and development by the U.S. Departme...

In a time of austerity, the U.S. government’s reliance on the private sector for a range of services has declined for two consecutive years. Even so, real services contract spending in 2012 remains more than 80 percent above the level in 2000. The CSIS Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group brings eight years of experience to the task of understanding this industry in flux. This report examines contract factors, like competition, funding mechanism, and vehicle, while also looking at industri...

International joint development programs are important because of their potential to reduce costs and increase partnership benefits such as interoperability, economies of scale, and technical advancement. While all major development and acquisition programs are complex undertakings, international joint development programs introduce additional layers of complexity in the requirement for coordination with more than one government customer, supply chain and organizational complexities result...

Researching and manufacturing fighters, ships, and tanks are only part of the picture for defense contracts. Contracting for services accounts for over 41 percent of DoD contract obligations in 2018. Services include maintaining equipment, moving people and things, creating software, providing server space, and construction. Service contracting is challenging as services can be difficult to define and measure. But services are increasingly central to the U.S. economy. The Department of Def...

Traditional contracting is primarily transactional, rewarding contractors when deliveries are made or certain process milestones are met. Performance-Based Logistic (PBL) contracting seeks to base contractor incentives on ongoing performance measures to achieve reliability and cost savings. Key to the success of these arrangements are the incentives that align the interests of the customer and the vendor. This report describes the incentives used in PBL contracts, identifies best practices...

Economics scholars and policymakers have rung alarm bells about the increasing threat of consolidation within industrial sectors. This paper examines the importance of industrial concentration in U.S. defense acquisition in two ways: first, a direct relationship between concentration and performance outcomes; and second, a mediating relationship, where concentration influences performance through reduced competition for defense acquisition. The study created a large contract dataset incorp...

In light of Section 881 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, which expanded the legal definition of the National Technology and Industrial Base (NTIB) to include the United Kingdom and Australia, this report informs NTIB partners on barriers and opportunities for effective integration. The expansion of the NTIB is based on the principle that defense trade between the United States and its closest allies enables a host of benefits, including increased access to in...