“The Pentagon’s chief arms buyer announced on Thursday he was revising his plan to increase oversight of weapons makers’ internal research and development projects that could be billed as overhead,” according to Reuters .  

“Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said he no longer planned to require companies to seek a ‘technical sponsor’ before beginning an internal research program but would instead propose they be required to brief an appropriate defense official before and after such work.”  

“Ellen Lord, president of Textron Systems, a unit of Textron Inc and other key industry executives had challenged the proposed rule, arguing that micromanaging internal company investments would be counter-productive.”