Despite significant investments to transform the Army for the future, the service is suffering from “years of inefficiencies” that continue to slow innovation, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll testified on Capitol Hill.

“As secretary, I have found that the Army has become calcified, having suffered from years of inefficiencies, slow-moving processes and wasteful spending,” Driscoll said June 18 at a hearing held by the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense to review the Army’s fiscal year 2026 budget. “Lobbyists and bureaucrats have overtaken the Army’s ability to prioritize soldiers and warfighting, and we must work together to ensure the Army is ready to fight and win.”

Asserting that neither soldiers nor industry are to blame for entrenched bureaucratic practices, Driscoll said he and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George believe that “the Army Transformation Initiative is the absolute best way that we can support our soldiers.”

Announced in an April 30 memorandum from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Army Transformation Initiative seeks to make big changes in force structure, weaponry, platforms and acquisition processes “to build a leaner and more lethal force.”

While few details on the nuts and bolts of the initiative have emerged, Driscoll testified that transformation is urgent. He said the ongoing conflicts in Israel and Ukraine have shown how readily available technology can disrupt “established power dynamics” and what can happen when change is embraced.

“They’re demonstrating why our Army needs to transform now and that we can’t waste even a single minute,” Driscoll said, adding that since he was sworn in as secretary on Feb. 25, he and George have been “immersed in understanding why the Army has been slow to innovate.”

Driscoll testified that the Army must get rid of what it doesn’t need, acquire the capabilities it does need and “chisel our organization” down into a lean, lethal warfighting force, a vision that will be accomplished, in part, by forging closer, more effective and innovative partnerships with the private sector.

He suggested the Army should take a “more venture capital” approach as well as calculated bets that “will pay off big,” and he asked the committee for the flexibility to make decisions that will keep closer pace “with the rapid evolution of technology and warfare.”

In his opening remarks, George reiterated the need to move quickly in a world where commercial technology is rapidly evolving, especially artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.

“We understand that we must transform to stay ahead of our adversaries and we need to get better by 2026 and 2027, not by 2030,” George said, pointing out that over the past year, with 2024 funding, some Army units transformed in contact, “which means they experimented with changing how we train, fight, man and equip while they were deployed or in training environments.”

Transformation in contact units, George said, have “taught us some valuable lessons about what our Army should be buying and how we should be buying it, and we’re just getting started.”

“Technology is changing too rapidly. We’ve got to be able to buy capabilities rather than specific programs so that we can always get our warfighters the best available tech and equipment for the fight,” George said. “This is where we could use Congress’ help.”