Transportation (formerly Global Agility): –
The United States’ dependence on uncoordinated public and private investment across the transportation and logistics ecosystem (trucking, railroad, air freight, port and harbor, inland waterway, deep-sea shipping, and warehousing industry) puts the nation’s ability to mobilize for major military action at risk. Despite various laws and government programs designed to protect the U.S. industry, recent wide-ranging supply chain chaos exposed systemic vulnerabilities which impinge on industrial, consumer, and national security interests. As economic activity normalizes in the wake of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, there is no expectation that the various corporate and government entities will construct a robust, long-lasting, system-wide framework to repair these exposures.
To fulfill the 2022 United States National Security Strategy’s long overdue promise to build robust supply chains, the nation must promote order within the chaotic transportation and logistics system. First, United States policy must address immediate concerns such as port and harbor and inland waterway infrastructure coordination, industry quality of life and maritime qualification constraints, technology application and regulation, warehousing and logistics strategy and planning, and national and international partnerships to guide immediate supply chain evolutionary forces, specifically in strategic coordination and the human capital domain. Second, the White House should appoint a senior, special coordinator to integrate the interagency and drive an integrated long-term transportation ecosystem development strategy to achieve national priorities. Finally, these efforts contribute to—and enhance—U.S. interoperability with partners and allies across global logistics in peace and war.
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