Call us now:
Rack RS – Defense Sustainment
Aisle R – Readiness
Library: Main Page — Professional Development (A) — Defense Enterprise (E) — Force Structure (F) — Modernization (M) — Personnel (P) — Readiness (R) — Special Enterprises (S) — Resource Management (X) — References (Z)
Readiness (R): Readiness Strategies (RA) — Defense Service Contracts (RC) — Force Equipping & Sustaining (RE) — Force Generation (RG) — Force Integration (RI) — National Mobilization (RN) — Organic Industrial Base (RO) — Power Projection (RP) — Readiness Reporting (RR) — Defense Sustainment (RS)
Disclaimer: The inclusion of resources here is for informational, historical, and research purposes only and is provided as a service for US Army War College faculty, students, and graduates to support their educational and professional requirements. These may include outdated or superseded materials. The inclusion of these materials does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Army War College, the U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.
Defense sustainment at the national and strategic level is central to the plans and strategies to sustain forces and promote national interests to provide the best military capability possible. In developing strategies and plans to sustain forces, leaders at all levels must consider how to manage and ensure capabilities. At the national or strategic level, leaders are concerned with developing and maintaining capabilities by creating policies, strategies and plans; funding programs; coordinating internally and across other governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations to meet national objectives. Complicating matters further, leaders must constantly balance current and emerging needs/threats against long-term considerations and future requirements within constrained and unpredictable funding levels.
This rack provides resources related to defense sustainment from the acquisition of raw materials to the production of goods and services to the sustainment of those goods and services along with the establishment and protection of lines of communication.
– Fred Maddox
This shelf contains general resources pertaining to the theory and practice of defense sustainment.
Faculty Publications:
- None.
Laws, Policies, Memos, and Regulations (sorted by regulation number):
- DoD Directive 4151.18, Maintenance of Military Materiel. 2018 Version with Change 1 | 2004 Version
- Army, General Order no. 34, “Designation of Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command as an Army Service Component Command,” October 16, 2006.
- Army, Logistics Information Warehouse (LIW): Queries and Reports User Training Manual, version 1.0, 2006.
Strategies and Reports:
- DoD, Assistant Security of Defense for Sustainment Strategic Plan (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 2023).
- Air Force Logistics Management Agency, 2004 Logistics Dimensions, Volume 2 (Washington, DC: Department of the Air Force, 2004).
- Army G-4, The Army Logistics Domain Information Technology Strategic Plan (Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 2009).
- Buerskens, Keith R. (ed.), The Long Haul: Historical Case Studies of Sustainment in Large-Scale Combat Operations (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Army University Press, 2018).
- Calvaresi-Barr, Ann. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: A Departmentwide Framework to Identify and Report Gaps in the Defense Supplier Base Is Needed, Report #GAO-09-5 (Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, 2009).
- DoD, Report of the Advisory Panel on Streamlining and Codifying Acquisition Regulations, Vol. 3 (January 2019):
- “Recommendation 41” on establishing a sustainment program baseline.
- DoD, Securing Defense-Critical Supply Chains (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 2022).
- Hacker, Tyler F. and G. James Herrera, Defense Primer: Department of Defense Maintenance Depots, Report #IF11466 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2020).
- Hacker, Tyler F. and G. James Herrera, Defense Primer: The Defense Logistics Agency, Report #IF11543 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2020).
- Herrera, G. James. National Stockpiles: Background and Issues for Congress, Report #IF11574 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2020).
- Humphreys, Marc. Critical Minerals and U.S. Public Policy, Report #R45810 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2019).
- Miller, Tom D., The Defense Sustainment Industrial Base — A Primer (policy paper, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2010), https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-defense-sustainment-industrial-base-a-primer/
- The author was a military fellow at Brookings, and therefore this document is considered a work of the U.S. Government.
- Nicastro, Luke A. and Heidi Peters, Defense Primer: US Defense Industrial Base, Report #IF10548 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, Updated April 2023).
- Nicastro, Luke A. Defense Primer: United States Transportation Command, Report #IF11479 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, Updated October 13, 2022), Oct 2022 Version
- Formerly Williams, Lynn M. and Velma C. Gay, Defense Primer: U.S. Transportation Command, Report #IF10840 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service): 2020 Version | 2018 Version
- Nissen, Chris, John Gronager, Robert Metzger, and Harvey Rishikof, Deliver Uncompromised: A Strategy for Supply Chain Security and Resilience in Response to the Changing Character of War (Washington, DC: MITRE Corporation, 2018), https://www.mitre.org/publications/technical-papers/deliver-uncompromised-a-strategy-for-supply-chain-security
- Peters, Heidi M. Defense Primer: Acquiring Specialty Metals and Sensitive Materials, Report #IF11226 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service): 2023 version | 2020 version
- Peters, Heidi M. Defense Primer: Department of Defense Contractors, Report #IF10600 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, December 17, 2021), https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10600
- Peters, Heidi M. Security of Supply Arrangements (SOSAs): Background and Issues, IF11894 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, August 10, 2021), https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11894
- Solis, William G. MILITARY READINESS: DOD Needs to Identify and Address Gaps and Potential Risks in Program Strategies and Funding Priorities for Selected Equipment, Report #GAO-06-141 (Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, 2006).
- Solis, William G. DEFENSE LOGISTICS: Efforts to Improve Distribution and Supply Support for Joint Military Operations Could Benefit from a Coordinated Management Approach, Report #GAO-07-807 (Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, 2007).
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, Defense Logistics: Efforts to Improve Distribution and Supply Support for Joint Military Operations Could Benefit from a Coordinated Management Approach, GAO-07-807 (Washington, DC: GAO, June 2007), https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-07-807.pdf
Commentaries (inclusion does not represent endorsement):
- “Special Issue – Supply Chain Logistics,” Air Force Journal of Logistics 31, no. 3 (Fall 2007).
- Adams, John. Remaking American Security: Supply Chain Vulnerabilities & National Security Risks Across the U.S. Defense Industrial Base (Washington, DC: Alliance for American Manufacturing, 2013).
- Note: The originating organization/source no longer exists. The softcopy of the report is being maintained temporarily until a new stable URL can be located.
- V. Balaram, “Rare Earth Elements: A Review of Applications, Occurrence, Exploration, Analysis, Recycling, and Environmental Impact,” Geoscience Frontiers 10, no. 4 (July 2019): 1285-1303, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987119300258
- Bender, Bryan. “How do you Buy $7 Billion of Stuff You Don’t Need?” Politico, December 28, 2015, https://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/pentagon-investigation-billions-broken-by-design-216935
- Bertrau, David J., “Sustainment and Logistics in Better Buying Power,” AT&L Magazine (July-August 2015): 37-39.
- Bohan, Melissa. “A New Strategy for a New Environment,” AT&L Magazine (January-February 2018): 8-11.
- Brim, Christine. Logistics Transformation: Next Steps to Agile Supply Chain Integration (Arlington, VA: Lexington Institute, 2005), https://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/logistics-transformation-next-steps-agile-supply.pdf
- Dail, Robert T. “Extending the Enterprise: Linking Supply with Demand,” Defense AT&L (May-June 2007): 17-20.
- Davis, James and John Sullivan, “Supply Chain Risk — What is it?” Defense Acquisition University, March 1, 2017, https://www.dau.edu/library/defense-atl/blog/Supply–Chain-Risk%E2%80%94-What-Is-It
- Eftekhari, Parham and Drew Spaniel, “Supply Chain Must Deliver Uncompromised Systems,” National Defense, December 5, 2018, https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2018/12/5/viewpoint-supply-chain-must-deliver-uncompromised-systems
- Goure, Dan. Implementing Logistics Transformation: A New Model for the Military Supply Chain (Arlington, VA: Lexington Institute, 2005), https://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/implementing-logistics-transformation-a-new-model-for-the-military-supply-chain/
- Goure, Dan. “Congress Must Reform Military Sustainment as it Did Acquisition,” Real Clear Defense, July 20, 2018, https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2018/07/20/congress_must_reform_military_sustainment_as_it_did_acquisition_113629.html
- Herrera, Rick and Ron Granieri, “Countering the Myths of Valley Force,” WAR ROOM, March 22, 2023, https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/podcasts/valley-forge/
- Hurt, Steven. Three Ways the U.S. Department of Defense Can Achieve Its Sustainment Objectives in Challenging Times (Washington, DC: AT Kearney, 2013), https://www.kearney.com/aerospace-defense/article/?/a/three-ways-the-u-s-department-of-defense-can-achieve-its-sustainment-objectives-in-challenging-times
- Mauldin, Randall M. “Development of the Joint Logistician,” Joint Force Quarterly 39 (4th Quarter 2005): 25-29.
- Joint Force Quarterly Editors, “Logistics and Support,” Joint Force Quarterly 39 (4th Quarter 2005): 10-11.
- Losey, Stephen and Joe Gould, “Fake Parts: A Pentagon supply chain problem hiding in plain sight,” DefenseNews, December 5, 2022, https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2022/12/06/fake-parts-a-pentagon-supply-chain-problem-hiding-in-plain-sight/
- Nissen, Chris, “Supply Chains May Pose Weakest Security Link,” The Cyber Edge (blog), AFCEA, July 1, 2019, https://www.afcea.org/content/supply-chains-may-pose-weakest-security-link
- Schultz, Dennis, Don Miller, David Hope, and Clay Helms, “Sustainment in the Military: Maintain Technological Advantage over the Life Span of Military Systems,” Deloitte, July 23, 2019, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/public-sector/sustainment-in-the-military.html
- Silberglitt, Richard et al., Critical Materials: Present Danger to U.S. Manufacturing (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2013), https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR133.html
- Trebilcock, Bob. “System Report: How the Defense Logistics Agency Does Disaster Relief,” Modern Materials Handling, March 14, 2019, https://www.mmh.com/article/how_the_defense_logistics_agency_does_disaster_relief
Special Topics — to be broken out into separate shelves in the future:
- Supply Chain Resiliency & Vulnerabilities
- O’Connell, Caolionn. Unraveling the Gordian Knot: Considering Supply Chain Resiliency, testimony presented before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, October 14, 2021), https://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/CTA1774-1.html
- Department of Defense, Securing Defense-Critical Supply Chains, an action plan developed in response to President Biden’s Executive Order 14017 (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, February 2022), https://media.defense.gov/2022/Feb/24/2002944158/-1/-1/1/DOD-EO-14017-REPORT-SECURING-DEFENSE-CRITICAL-SUPPLY-CHAINS.PDF
- House Armed Services Committee, Report of the Defense Critical Supply Chain Task Force (Washington, DC: House Armed Services Committee, July 22, 2021), https://armedservices.house.gov/_cache/files/e/5/e5b9a98f-9923-47f6-a5b5-ccf77ebbb441/7E26814EA08F7F701B16D4C5FA37F043.defense-critical-supply-chain-task-force-report.pdf
- Losey, Stephen and Joe Gould, “Fake parts: A Pentagon Supply Chain Problem Hiding in Plain Sight,” DefenseNews, December 5, 2022, https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2022/12/06/fake-parts-a-pentagon-supply-chain-problem-hiding-in-plain-sight/
- Shih, Willy. “Willy Shih on Supply Chains in a Post-Pandemic World,” August 15, 2021, video, 57:58, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEThYIZGmKs&t=693s
- Wiles, Matt and David Chinn, “Supply Chain Transformation Under Fire,” McKinsey on Government 5 (Spring 2010): 50-55, https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/
alumni%20center/pdf/mog_supply_chain.pdf.
Title image credit: Kimberly Spinner, U.S. Army photo, public domain.
Readiness (R): Readiness Strategies (RA) — Defense Service Contracts (RC) — Force Equipping & Sustaining (RE) — Force Generation (RG) — Force Integration (RI) — National Mobilization (RN) — Organic Industrial Base (RO) — Power Projection (RP) — Readiness Reporting (RR) — Defense Sustainment (RS)
Library: Main Page — Professional Development (A) — Defense Enterprise (E) — Force Structure (F) — Modernization (M) — Personnel (P) — Readiness (R) — Special Enterprises (S) — Resource Management (X) — References (Z)