With all the challenges the nation faces today, I am frequently asked whether another Operation Warp Speed (OWS)-like initiative is in order. For instance, I have been asked “Can’t we use an OWS initiative to cure cancer?” “How about applying it to our supply chain issues?” And most recently, “Can we use an OWS process to make more baby formula?”
My answer is always the same: Perhaps, but not under this administration.
Operation Warp Speed has been described as nothing short of a scientific “miracle.” This could not be further from the truth. Warp Speed’s achievement of bringing safe and effective vaccines to the American people in 80 percent less time than ever before was the result of a deliberate strategy, exacting execution, exceptional teamwork and inspired leadership. As important, it was the beneficiary of an underlying ideology and set of experiences present in the previous administration yet absent in the current one.
An inveterate belief in the power of America’s private sector. The Trump team was ideologically disposed to believing America’s private sector possessed the ingenuity, innovative spirit and industrial dexterity to rapidly address our most pressing challenges. Early in the pandemic, we experienced this first-hand as companies such as General Motors converted their production lines to manufacture tens of thousands of mechanical ventilators in just a few months.
It was only natural, therefore, that we would turn to the private sector to accelerate the discovery, manufacturing, distribution and administration of hundreds of millions of vaccines in record time.
In contrast, when faced with challenges such as uncontrolled energy costs, shortages of baby formula and rising meat prices, the Biden administration is more likely to criticize and disparage private sector participants as monopolists and price gougers. Its progressive biases favor increased regulatory oversight to constrain the private sector, while President Trump’s free market biases and distaste for regulatory intrusion liberated the private sector.
Leaders who knew how to mobilize industry. Trump’s prior experience was in business. He knew how the private sector worked and understood its motivations. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar spent 10 years in the pharmaceutical sector and understood its tolerance for risk-taking. Where we lacked private sector experience, we acquired it in the form of individuals such as Dr. Moncef Slaoui, who came to us from a 30-year career in vaccine development.
Contrast this with the current president and HHS secretary, who have spent their careers in politics. Exacerbating this lack of business experience, the Biden team inexplicably dismissed Dr. Slaoui from the OWS initiative upon entering office. So, even if the senior-most Biden team members were ideologically disposed to embracing the power of the private sector, none of them possesses the insights and experiences necessary to mobilize it.
The willingness to delegate decisionmaking and bypass the bureaucracy. One of the keys to Operation Warp Speed’s success was creating a multi-disciplinary team of both private-sector and government experts and then giving its members broad authority to make decisions quickly without bureaucratic meddling. Trump and Azar provided the resources necessary for success and then made themselves completely accessible to the team when needed. Jared Kushner ensured that the balance of the White House staff left the team alone. The administration never meddled, rather it offered unconditional support. We all aligned on a goal, which was to have at least one safe and effective vaccine with millions of manufactured doses before the end of 2020. The team and a small governing board subsequently spent $30 billion and delivered the results.
Upon arrival, the Biden team revoked all decisionmaking authority from the OWS experts and centralized it in the White House. This led to significant ambiguity, paralysis and lethargy in the decisionmaking process. Moreover, it led to discouragement and partial disengagement among those most critical to success.
The defining and fundamental principle underpinning Operation Warp Speed’s spectacular achievements was simple and easily replicated: The federal government’s role is to enable success, while the private sector’s role is to deliver success. Its corollary, of course, is to never permit the federal government to engage in activities the private sector can perform more competently.
Unfortunately, the ideological biases and lack of private sector insights leading to too much control and corporate distrust at the top of the Biden administration today will preclude another Operation Warp Speed-like success anytime soon.
Paul Mango was deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2019-2021, serving as Secretary Azar’s formal liaison to Operation Warp Speed. His new book, “Warp Speed: Inside the Operation That Beat COVID, the Critics, and the Odds,” is due out in hardcover this week (Republic Book Publishers, June 14, 2022).