Necessary DoD Range Capabilities to Ensure Operational Superiority of U.S. Defense Systems: Testing for the Future Fight (2021)
Chapter: Appendix D: Disclosure of Unavoidable Conflicts of Interest
D
Disclosure of Unavoidable Conflicts of Interest
The conflict-of-interest policy of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (https://www.nationalacademies.org/about/institutional-policies-and-procedures/conflict-of-interest-policies-and-procedures) prohibits the appointment of an individual to a committee like the one that authored this Consensus Study Report if the individual has a conflict of interest that is relevant to the task to be performed. An exception to this prohibition is permitted only if the National Academies determine that the conflict is unavoidable and the conflict is promptly and publicly disclosed.
When the committee that authored this report was established a determination of whether there was a conflict of interest was made for each committee member given the individual’s circumstances and the task being undertaken by the committee. A determination that an individual has a conflict of interest is not an assessment of that individual’s actual behavior or character or ability to act objectively despite the conflicting interest.
Dr. Keoki Jackson was determined to have a conflict of interest because of his prior affiliation with Lockheed Martin, which develops products for the Department of Defense (DoD), many of which undergo operational test and evaluation at DoD ranges that are included in the study. Lockheed Martin also has an operations contract with the National Cyber Range Complex, which is under the purview of DoD’s Test Resource Management Center and the location of one of the site visits for this study.
Mr. Derrick Hinton was determined to have a conflict of interest because of his current affiliation as an employee of the company Scientific
Research Corporation (SRC), whose business activities are focused on a broad range of information, communications, intelligence, electronic warfare, simulation, training, and instrumentation systems for both commercial and defense operational environments.
Dr. Rob Kewley was determined to have a conflict of interest because of his current affiliation as a consultant for multiple companies that compete for modeling and simulation support for DoD programs, including programs in the test domain.
In each case, the National Academies determined that the experiences and expertise of these individuals were needed for the committee to accomplish the task for which it was established. The National Academies could not find another available individual with the equivalent experiences and expertise who did not have a conflict of interest. Therefore, the National Academies concluded that the conflict was unavoidable and publicly disclosed it on its website (www.nationalacademies.org).
