taylor.jackson@surgetheory.org, Author at Knudsen Institute

What Secretary Hegseth Got Right—and Missed—in His Call for Acquisition Reform

November 11, 2025 / taylor.jackson@surgetheory.org / Article

By: Michael Morford Download PDF What Secretary Hegseth Got Right—and Missed—in His Call for Acquisition Reform Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s remarks last Friday on acquisition reform struck the right tone and urgency. He’s right that the Pentagon’s industrial base mirrors its own bureaucracy: risk-averse, slow, and unable to scale in crisis. But when he […]

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White Paper: Civilian Industrial Reserve Forces (CIRF)

October 20, 2025 / taylor.jackson@surgetheory.org / Resource

By: Michael Morford Download PDF Civilian Industrial Response Forces (CIRF) A National Surge Workforce for the Modern Era Background: The Proven Guard & Reserve Model Since America’s birth, the primary mechanism our nation has employed to rapidly respond to any threat has been through volunteers. Leading up to and during the Revolutionary War, these volunteers

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White Paper: What Large Language Models Can’t Do (Yet)

July 23, 2025 / taylor.jackson@surgetheory.org / Resource

By: Michael Morford Download PDF What Large Language Models Can’t Do (Yet) A Practical Guide for DOD Leaders Understanding the Invisible Limitations of ChatGPT, Ask SAGE, and Other Large Language Models (LLMs) in US Military Environments Executive Summary Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Ask SAGE are increasingly integrated into Department of Defense (DoD)

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