Genuinely curious what legal waivers they’ve been afforded, since generally speaking “holding a decision-making position in the part of the uniformed services you also sell to” is very much adjacent to profiteering and disturbingly in the vicinity to honest services fraud. How do you disentangle private interests from the public good, even if these guys are operating in good faith?
Also, give a brief thought to those troops who signed on for their full hitch to defend their country and get to watch a handful of politically-connected billionaires leapfrog their way into custom-built field grade slots without having to attend basic or OCS, or even pass APFT.
I think the question is are the Armed Forces served better by having this expertise available (on a commissioned part-time basis, with modified basic requirements) or by maintaining a bar that the person has to go through OCS and pass APFT?
You probably can’t have both — not they couldn’t pass APFT (with varying degrees of fitness program required) but more likely they cannot commit the time required to do OCS and APFT, and if forced to choose will simply not participate.
It’ll stick in some people’s craw that this is dual standards, however you can’t please all the people all the time — someone concluded the compromise was worth it to obtain access to technology experience.
The DOD already has the Defense Science Board (and the services have their own advisory boards), so other than giving a few billionaires the chance to strut around in their freshly-pressed Class As, it's not clear what advantage this provides over existing civilian FACA entities.
decision making on contracts and acquisitions is a very complex thing the DOD, and they won't be allowed anywhere near it in the areas where they have civilian conflicts of interest.
Also, give a brief thought to those troops who signed on for their full hitch to defend their country and get to watch a handful of politically-connected billionaires leapfrog their way into custom-built field grade slots without having to attend basic or OCS, or even pass APFT.