Uncommon bonds: ‘Right to repair’ in the military

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., long a champion of so-called “right to repair” in the US military, has found an ally in freshman Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., as she looks to shepherd through legislation to address what she sees as an expensive yet solvable problem.

Warren and Sheehy don’t have a bill yet, but they penned a Fox News op-ed recently that pushes for lifting restrictions on the ability of service members to fix their own equipment. They argued that the current situation is jeopardizing readiness, costing the Pentagon more money, and creating a lack of competition in the defense industry.

Warren told Semafor that she and Sheehy — both members of the Armed Services Committee — decided to “link up” after having a conversation about “right to repair” in the military and the US economy more broadly.

“We had a long conversation about the importance of improving our acquisition practices for the Department of Defense, and he was really frustrated over the amount of waste that defense contractors were able to extract from DOD because the Defense Department was just doing such a poor job,” she said.

Their goal, she said, is to get legislation into the base text for the next National Defense Authorization Act, the mammoth defense policy legislation that Congress typically passes towards the end of the year.

Sheehy told Semafor he thinks more Republicans will eventually join him to back the legislation that the pair introduces.

“There’s really bipartisan support right now to fix our defense sector,” he said. “The Democrats have historically not been a pro-defense party. But since Ukraine, for some reason, that’s woken them up to the fact that you can’t build bullets, bombs, planes or ships as fast as China and Russia.”

Warren introduced legislation last Congress that would have required the Pentagon to evaluate whether it could save money by acquiring intellectual property rights for systems it procures. That bill mandated that contractors provide “fair and reasonable access” to materials and information needed for repairs.

She also penned a letter to Elon Musk, then the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, in January encouraging him to look at the issue as a way to reduce Pentagon spending.

One example Warren and Sheehy cited is the F-35 program. According to the Government Accountability Office, the Pentagon’s lack of access to intellectual property related to the military planes made by Lockheed Martin “has limited its ability to manage the F-35 program in a cost-effective manner.”

But there’s also a tradeoff, GAO notes, because acquiring intellectual property rights costs the Pentagon more on the front end.

The legislative efforts could irk major defense contractors, which rely on the federal government as a huge source of revenue.

Warren and Sheehy have a powerful ally in Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, a friend and former adviser to Vice President JD Vance. Driscoll is overseeing a new Army initiative that seeks to advance acquisition reform and address intellectual property constraints.

“Over the last few decades, the Army has signed away its ability to repair its own equipment. Through the Army Transformation Initiative we are going to ensure that every contract going forward will enable our soldiers to repair their own equipment,” Driscoll told Semafor in a statement. “Doing this will save taxpayer dollars and get equipment back on the battlefield faster. I’m thrilled this important issue has bipartisan support in Congress.”

The Army’s work is a sign that the White House may get behind the forthcoming legislation from Warren and Sheehy.

“They’re very supportive of Driscoll’s Army initiative,” Sheehy said of the White House.