Frank Kendall III

Frank Kendall III (born January 26, 1949) is an American engineer, lawyer, and executive who has served in senior positions in the US Department of Defense.  He is a West Point graduate[1] and retired as a LTC from the US Army Reserves. From 2012 to 2017 he served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics in the Obama administration.[2][3][4][5]

Frank Kendall
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics
In office October 6, 2011 – January 20, 2017
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Ash Carter
Succeeded by	Jimmy MacStravic (Acting)
Personal details
Born	January 26, 1949 Pittsfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	United States Military Academy (BS) California Institute of Technology (MS) Long Island University (MBA) Georgetown University (JD)

Kendall began his career as a US Army officer. After several assignments including postings to Germany and teaching engineering at West Point, he joined the civil service working as a systems engineer in missile defense.  In 1986, he became the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Strategic Defense Systems as a member of the Senior Executive Service. From 1989 to 1994, he served as first “acting" and then permanent Deputy Director of Defense Research and Engineering with responsibility for all US conventional weapon systems research and development programs. After leaving government service in 1994, Kendall served as Corporate Vice President of Engineering at Raytheon and later as a consultant.  During this period Kendall acquired a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center and worked on a pro bono basis as a human rights attorney.[6]  In 2010 Kendall returned to government, first as Principal Under Secretary and then Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.[7]

During his tenure as Under Secretary, Kendall implemented policies that led to substantial improvements in the cost and schedule performance of the Defense Department’s weapons acquisition programs.[8]  In 2016 he was recognized as Person of the Year by Aviation Week and Space Technology for his cost control efforts.[9] In addition to the policy changes he initiated and executed under the “Better Buying Power” initiatives he directly oversaw over 50 of the largest defense weapons programs.  Examples include the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program where he froze production for two years to incentivize efforts to stabilize the design,[10] the GPS 3 ground system, OCX, where he led the effort to restructure and complete this troubled program.[11]  He oversaw the initiation of the  development of the B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber which is currently executing to plan.[12] He formulated and led the effort to acquire the Military Health System GENESIS (MHS GENESIS) program, modern healthcare management system that has been adopted by the Department of Veterans Affairs as well as the Defense Department.[13][14]  Kendall led the effort to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan[15][16][17] with rapid acquisition programs and he led the effort to remove Syrian chemical weapons from that country and destroy them at sea.[18]  Kendall was a major sponsor for innovation,[19] launching the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency led Aerospace Innovation Initiative.[20]  Kendall was one of the first to raise alarms about Chinese military modernization and the threat it posed to US conventional military superiority.[21]  While in office he authored the articles on defense acquisition that he compiled in his book “Getting Defense Acquisition Right".[22]

References

1. "WebCite query result". www.webcitation.org. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
2. S. HRG. 112–745 (112th Congress, 2012).
3. "Senator Lifts Holds on Most Nominees". New York Times. February 9, 2010. Archived from the original on October 16, 2011. Retrieved September 24, 2011.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
4. "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts". The Whitehouse. July 30, 2009. Archived from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2009.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
5. "Frank Kendall: Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics". United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on October 16, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2013. Mr. Kendall is an attorney and has been active in the field of human rights, working primarily on a pro bono basis. He has worked with Amnesty International USA, where he served as a member of the Board of Directors, with Human Rights First, for whom he was an observer at Guantanamo, and with the Tahirih Justice Center, where he was Chair of the Board of Directors.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
6. "WebCite query result". www.webcitation.org. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
7. "Frank Kendall > U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE > Biography". www.defense.gov. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
8. "Better Buying Power 3.0 Stresses Innovation, Affordability". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
9. Network, Aviation Week. "Aviation Week Network Announces 2017 Program Excellence Awards Winners". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
10. "US Weapons Man: F-35 Fighter Plan Was 'Acquisition Malpractice'". ABC News. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
11. "Kendall Says Recompeting OCX is a Possibility". SpaceNews. December 2, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
12. Hitchens, Theresa. "Kendall, LaPlante Complete Long Range Strike Bomber Review: EXCLUSIVE". Breaking Defense. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
13. "DoD Awards Contract for Electronic Health Records". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
14. "VA Launches New Electronic Health Record Platform Amid a Pandemic, Wildfires and Citywide Power Outages". Nextgov.com. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
15. "Kendall USD ATL Frank 120108-F-AX764-004". Breaking Defense. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
16. "Q&A with Frank Kendall, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics". Aerospace Industries Association. April 14, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
17. Acquisition, Defense (September 9, 2016). "Manufacturing Innovation and Technological Superiority". Medium. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
18. Steinhauer, Jennifer (January 2, 2014). "U.S. Military Ship Readied for Mission to Destroy Syria's Chemical Weapons (Published 2014)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
19. "First Chemical Weapons Leave Syria for Destruction at Sea". USNI News. January 7, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
20. ago | 01/28/2015, Megan Eckstein | 5 years (January 28, 2015). "Kendall Announced Aerospace Innovation Initiative to Support 6th-Generation Fighter Jet". Defense Daily. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
21. "Slow and Steady is Losing the Defense Acquisition Race". www.govexec.com. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
22. Getting Defense Acquisition Right: The Honorable Frank Kendall. January 24, 2017. ISBN 978-1542730938.

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN