Lauren C. Williams

Washington, D.C., United States

senior editor, @defenseone. i like tech, trash tv + singing loudly. send recs, requests + tips to lwilliams at defenseone dot com. at lalaurenista on bs

Articles

How will budget talks will shape Marines’ amphibious fleet plans

1 day ago | defenseone.com | Lauren C. Williams

Another problem: The Navy is decommissioning amphibs faster than they can build them. Wittman said the situation is akin to “a track meet that it's hard to win when your competition is running faster than you are.”Vice Adm. James Pitts, deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities, agreed, but noted the Navy is new ways to keep ships on a maintenance schedule. “The procurement piece—we're actually in a good position, I think.
INDOPACOM Brings AI to Wargaming Exercise

5 days ago | realcleardefense.com | Lauren C. Williams

INDOPACOM Brings AI to Wargaming Exercise After nearly half a year of focusing on new tech, commanders get to pit decision-making tools against operational plans Read Full Article »
INDOPACOM brings AI to wargaming exercise

1 week ago | defenseone.com | Lauren C. Williams

WASHINGTON—While the Pentagon is still figuring out how to use generative AI for daily operations, one combatant command is about to use the tools in a signature tabletop exercise. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command will put its work on the Thunderforge project to use during the second half of its annual Pacific Sentry exercise, in which headquarters staff and command components square off against a simulated enemy, INDOPACOM’s director of requirements and resources said Thursday.
Killing drones softly

1 week ago | defenseone.com | Lauren C. Williams

Skip to Content Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Insights & Reports May 27, 2025 04:47 AM ET Drones Industry As concerns about homeland drone attacks persist, the Pentagon is looking for ways to combat everything from nuisance hobbyists to adversarial drone activity—including options that don’t include shooting them down.
The DOD’s tech agency braces for 10% workforce cut

2 weeks ago | defenseone.com | Lauren C. Williams

The Pentagon’s IT agency will lose nearly 10 percent of its total staff as part of the Trump administration’s push to slash the federal workforce, the agency’s director told senators Wednesday. But the workforce reduction may have its upsides. “It's giving us an opportunity to ruthlessly realign and optimize how we are addressing what is an evolving mission,” Lt. Gen. Paul Stanton, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday.
Made in the USA: foreign defense companies eye bigger slice of the American pie

3 weeks ago | defenseone.com | Lauren C. Williams

Despite the Trump administration’s jarring shifts in foreign and trade policy, some international companies are laying plans to expand their defense business in the United States, executives said in interviews. Saab increased its American manufacturing footprint this past year, adding facilities in Rhode Island to build uncrewed underwater vehicles and munitions in Michigan. The company also has a presence in Indiana for the fuselage for the Boeing-Saab T-7 jet and deep tech research.
Golden Dome push sets stage for telecom battle over spectrum access

3 weeks ago | spaceproject.govexec.com | Lauren C. Williams

The wildly ambitious Golden Dome missile-defense vision is turning up the heat on a long-running fight between the Pentagon and the telecommunications industry for control of certain radio frequencies. “That area of the spectrum is golden, and we need to protect it to maintain national security.
Golden Dome push sets stage for telecom battle over spectrum access

3 weeks ago | defenseone.com | Lauren C. Williams

But Republicans seem to be split on the matter. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who chairs the Senate commerce committee, has been pushing for the spectrum auction authority because of its potential to generate billions of dollars in revenue. Cruz has argued that not selling off parts of the spectrum could mean missing out on additional resources for the military.
Could Striking First in Cyber Be New Pentagon Policy?

1 month ago | realcleardefense.com | Lauren C. Williams

Could Striking First in Cyber Be New Pentagon Policy? Bolstering cyber operations is top of mind for Katie Sutton, the White House’s pick to lead Defense Department cyber policy Read Full Article »
Trump’s Pentagon-personnel nominee wants to curb DOGE data access

1 month ago | govexec.com | Lauren C. Williams

DOGE won’t get unfettered access to service members’ personal data, the Trump administration’s pick to lead defense personnel vowed Tuesday at a confirmation hearing where questions largely concerned his history of inflammatory comments.