An Inside Defense look at Ellen Lord

Inside Defense has compiled the policy views of Ellen Lord, tapped to serve as the Pentagon's top buying official, from past interviews and speeches.

She's spoken about some of the Pentagon's most significant issues, from commercial buying to independent research to foreign military sales.

In 2015, for instance, she pushed for defense contractors to take a more commercial approach to the market.

"I think what we all have to do is collectively lean forward and develop products, services, capabilities ourselves and then demonstrate those to the DOD in order to give them a wide array of things to choose from," she continued.

Lord has also urged the government to more rapidly approve foreign military sales.

"We must better balance the benefits of the FMS process with the burdens it puts on industry," Lord said at a 2014 event. "FMS sales can be unpredictable, burdened by process, including lengthy audits to review identical costs incurred in the same product for a different country."

She has also criticized the way the Pentagon has proposed managing independent research and development.

"When you need a sponsor for your IRAD, it's no longer IRAD," she said in 2014. "You need to let people try and fail, and I think that's where innovation comes from, versus somehow prescribing what you're going to innovate tomorrow."

Lord has advocated for fixed-price competitions, arguing they are "simpler from a business model point of view."

"If you take on that risk, you should be rewarded with higher profit," she said.

For complete coverage of Lord's positions, read the full article.