Defense One’s Lauren Williams on industrial base management matters and pressure points
Mon Feb 02 2026
Pressure points on defense companies from their Pentagon customer to invest more and do business differently than before are coming from multiple levels of leadership, including President Trump himself.
Lauren Williams, business editor at our partner publication Defense One, canvasses the perspectives and opinions of industry pros on that matter to help put together the Defense Business Brief newsletter that goes out every Monday.
Lauren joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to break down those different pressure points, including Trump’s executive order barring companies from stock repurchases and issuing dividends until they invest more in tech development and production.
But as Lauren also explains, that executive order is only one of several examples of the U.S. military customer taking a more direct involvement in shaping the kind of industrial base it wants.
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Pressure points on defense companies from their Pentagon customer to invest more and do business differently than before are coming from multiple levels of leadership, including President Trump himself. Lauren Williams, business editor at our partner publication Defense One, canvasses the perspectives and opinions of industry pros on that matter to help put together the Defense Business Brief newsletter that goes out every Monday. Lauren joins our Ross Wilkers for this episode to break down those different pressure points, including Trump’s executive order barring companies from stock repurchases and issuing dividends until they invest more in tech development and production. But as Lauren also explains, that executive order is only one of several examples of the U.S. military customer taking a more direct involvement in shaping the kind of industrial base it wants. WT 360: Defense One's Lauren Williams on the new world order of acquisition DOE seeks batteries with four times the juice Defense Business Brief: Thales’ frigate pivot + 2026 lookahead with Leonardo DRS Defense Business Brief: Exec order fallout; $1B rocket-maker deal; Acquisition changes, and more Trump lambastes defense CEOs over pay, stock buybacks Defense Business Brief: US-made biotech; Rocketdyne; Hegseth’s industry tours ‘Very, very strange time’: After a big 2025, what’s next for the defense industry? Hegseth hints at higher defense budgets as OMB says another reconciliation bill is possible Unveiling acquisition overhaul, Hegseth tells industry to get with the program Why DOD is so bad at buying software