This is a key question and impacts innovation in the military. The problem centers on two overlapping frameworks: military rules and federal patent law. Each branch of the armed forces has policies, like Army Regulation 27-60 and Air Force Instruction 51-301, regarding reporting inventions made by service members while on duty. Nearly always, the government claims ownership or more than a free of charge license to inventions related to military work.
Over it all is the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, which establishes a federal right to impose secrecy orders on patent applications considered crucial to national security. Based on Patent and Trademark Office information, over 5,000 secrecy orders will be in effect yearly, many regarding defense technologies. When an order is enforced, inventors may be barred from disclosing or profiting from their work - sometimes indefinitely.
For military inventors, this might mean a device they developed in a motor pool, a prison, or perhaps a forward operating base finds its way to some classified program without compensation or recognition.
Pressure Mounted on Capitol Hill
The problem has refocused Pentagon attention as it looks at emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and cyber tools - places where junior enlisted soldiers and Guard members often bring crucial civil expertise. Members of the House Armed Services and Judiciary Committees have received testimony by military personnel and veterans that the military bureaucracy took their inventions with no acknowledgment.
One proposal considered would require the Department of War to establish a uniform inventor recognition program much like federal employee awards which assures official credit and sometimes cash for service members. Another would require yearly reporting on secrecy orders impacting service member inventions so it would be clear how frequently troops ideas are categorized from reach.
Supporters point out such reforms would be fair and would foster innovation from the ranks. "If we would like soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen to think creatively about resolving issues, they must understand their work will not simply go right into a black box," one congressional adviser told Military.com
Risks & Counterarguments
The Pentagon has typically resisted letting inventions loose due to national security and intellectual property concerns. Officials worry permitting way too many rights to individual inventors could bog down procurement programs or expose sensitive capabilities. The Defense Department also cites existing award programs, including the Military Outstanding Invention Awards given yearly by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering, as evidence troops are recognized.
Critics counter that those programs are little known and seldom reach top innovators. They assert that with no adequate safeguards and rewards the military risks losing a wellspring of ideas at a moment when peer rivals like China are investing heavily in defense innovation.
In both chambers, lawmakers have questioned whether those rules discourage innovation. With the Pentagon frequently investing in solutions including artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and cyber tools, some fear troops may be not as likely to share ideas if incentives were eliminated.
Some proposals floated in recent hearings consist of requiring the War Department to establish a formal recognition program for troop inventors and requiring greater transparency regarding secrecy orders impacting service member patents. Advocates say such reforms would be fair to the inventors and might increase military readiness by permitting more first line innovation.
From the motor pool to the plane line, American service members invent. But the system governing their inventions hasn't kept pace with contemporary defense technology. Congress has a choice now: Keep the existing system, where recognition is intermittent and patents usually fade into secrecy, or update the rules to give service members credit and compensation when their ideas help the nation defend.
The answer might determine if the next big device or process invented in uniform ever sees daylight - and if the military will continue to reap the benefits of the ingenuity of those closest to the struggle.
