The chief executive for one of GovCon’s most storied companies commented this week on calls from both the public and private sectors for the government — and the military in particular — to make greater use of technologies from the commercial sector.
 Wes Bush, CEO Northrop Grumman, told a CSIS-hosted event in WashingtonTuesday defense agencies should not solely rely on commercial technologies as a substitute for federal investments into research-and-development efforts.
“Commercial technology, quite correctly, follows the money wherever it leads,” Bush said.
“This is not to say that commercial has no utility to defense. Of course it does. But that utility is as leverage not a substitute.”
Bush’s comments came nearly a week after the National Science Foundationpublished a new report on the federal government’s funding for R&D, which said that support declined 9 percent in FY 2013 from 2012 figures.
The Pentagon’s individual R&D support fell 14 percent during that same time frame and NASA’s R&D funding went down 3 percent, NSF said.
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The Potomac Officers Club‘s next event for public and private sector leaders will kick off the “CIO Summer Series,” where IT leaders from federal agencies will offer their perspectives on spending priorities and what is in store for the year ahead.
POC’s first event of the series will feature Terry Halvorsen, the Defense Department’s chief information officer, with more CIOs to come for the remainder of the series.
After that, POC’s June 16 “Internet of Things” summit will feature discussions on how the Internet has converged with appliances, automobiles and building systems.
Vint Cerf, widely recognized as a “father of the Internet” and Google’s chief Internet evangelist, will address the executive audience at the half-day event in McLean, Va.
Other speakers include Dan Doney, chief innovation officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Kevin Kampschroer, GSA’s director of federal high-performance green buildings.
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Wes Bush, CEO Northrop Grumman, 
Bush’s comments came nearly a week after the National Science Foundation
The 
POC’s first event of the series will feature Terry Halvorsen, the Defense Department’s chief information officer, with more CIOs to come for the remainder of the series.
Vint Cerf, widely recognized as a “father of the Internet” and Google’s chief Internet evangelist, will address the executive audience at the half-day event in McLean, Va.
Intelligence Agency, and Kevin Kampschroer, GSA’s director of federal high-performance green buildings.
