OTA Spending On The Rise

From 1985 to 1999, Jon Etherton served as a professional staff member to the Senate Armed Services Committee and was assigned to provide support to the republican committee members on acquisition and contract policy issues. Jon was involved with the formation and passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act in 1986, the so-called section 800 panel legislation in 1990, the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, the Federal Acquisition Reform Act and the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996, as well as all of the acquisition policy provisions in titles IX, VIII and elsewhere in each of the annual National Defense Authorization bills during his period of Senate service. From 2005 to 2007, Jon served as a member of the Acquisition Advisory Panel established by section 1423 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. Jon is currently serving as Senior Fellow for Acquisition Reform at the National Defense Industrial Association and was co-author with Will Goodman of Pathway to Transformation: NDIA Acquisition Reform Recommendations, which was presented to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees in November 2014.

Robert Levinson is a Senior Defense Analyst with Bloomberg Government. He specializes in analyzing DOD spending trends, budget activity, and identifying the largest opportunities being released at the Pentagon. He is a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force with more than 20 years of service. Levinson worked for Booz Allen Hamilton as a strategic communications consultant. He has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a master’s from the University of California, and is a Harvard Kennedy School for Senior Executives graduate. Follow him @levinsor