RICHMOND, Virginia –
The Defense Logistics Agency’s 2025 Supply Chain Alliance Symposium and Exhibition concluded June 12 with an emphasis on the critical need for supply chain readiness, collaborative innovation and a robust defense industrial base. The final day featured remarks from Steven Morani, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment, DLA Director Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly, and DLA Land and Maritime’s Acting Commander Ken Watson, as well as a panel discussion on the role of small business manufacturers led by DLA’s Executive Director of Small Business Programs Daniele Kurze.
Rebuilding the Military and Deterrence Through Logistics
Morani’s keynote address underscored the Defense Department’s commitment to strengthening homeland defense and deterring aggression, particularly from China. He highlighted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s priorities: restoring the warrior ethos and increasing lethality, rebuilding the military to match capabilities to threats and reestablishing deterrence.
Morani emphasized that logistics plays a critical role in this deterrence, stating, “If your adversary knows that your logistics capabilities are strong, that they're robust, that you have depth in your magazine so to speak, that you're in it for the long run, that you have an industrial base that can surge and reconstitute, they're going to be less likely to engage you.”
Morani delved into the department’s ongoing efforts to implement recent executive orders, with 27 specifically under his purview driving 120 lines of effort. These initiatives aim to reduce spending, optimize government efficiency and shift resources to higher priorities, such as defending the homeland through a layered defense network.
A major focus of Morani’s remarks was the critical need for reshoring and establishing domestic sources for essential materials, particularly munitions and critical minerals. He noted the impact of tariffs in accelerating this conversation and the significant investment of over $2 billion in Defense Production Act funding to increase domestic industrial capacity in these areas. He touched upon the modernization of the act, referencing recent legislation aimed at addressing requirements, acquisition processes and resourcing.
Morani also discussed the importance of robust lift and mobility capacity, and operational contract support to sustain warfighters in regional conflicts. He highlighted the declining aircraft availability and mission capability rates, and the increased cannibalization actions by the military services as leading indicators of supply chain issues that need to be addressed through industrial base expansion. He stressed the importance of knowing the pedigree and security of supply chains, particularly for critical components like magnets and printed circuit boards, advocating for a shift from "factory to foxhole" to "mining to foxhole" in terms of supply chain security.
“Our competitive advantage depends on our ability to ensure supply chains are able to deliver flexible, fast, resilient capability to a warfighter,” he said.
A key concept introduced by Morani was the "Regional Sustainment Framework," a transparent, responsive and distributed network aimed at enhancing maintenance, repair and overhaul capabilities to reduce non-available time and compress repair cycles for the military services.
“Everybody realizes they can’t go it alone – they don’t have the capacity to go it alone,” he said. “Compressing that repair cycle is key to keeping weapon system readiness high but it also gets back to the idea of surge and reconstitution. If I have a broader network of repair capability, I can surge that network when demand goes up and I can reconstitute my forces quicker.”
Morani emphasized the often-overlooked aspect of the transportation and distribution industrial base, pointing out China's significant control over global commercial shipping capacity and ports poses a substantial challenge to the U.S. supply chain.
“China owns more than half of the world’s commercial shipping capacity,” he said, of China’s control of 96 foreign ports in 53 countries. “They produce 80 percent of the ship-to-shore cranes that we use in the United States, and control 85 percent of the [shipping] container market.”
Morani noted shipping containers may seem inconsequential, however the ramifications of not having a domestic source is clear: constraining logistics becomes as simple as being unable to move equipment and supplies.
Morani ended his presentation highlighting DLA’s advancements in achieving audit readiness and being a leader for the federal government in the automation space. DLA issues 10,000 contract awards daily and over 90 percent are awarded through robotic process automation. DLA currently has 176 automated bots deployed, contributing to approximately 267,000 hours of work.
“This is leveraging software and process to speed up our ability to support the warfighter,” he said.
Supply Chain Readiness as an Operational Necessity
DLA Director Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly’s remarks reinforced the overarching theme of the symposium: supply chain readiness is not merely an advantage but an operational necessity. His address highlighted the critical nature of agile and resilient logistics frameworks capable of sustaining forces under fire and withstanding disruptions from various threats, including cyberattacks and physical strikes. His spoke on the need for a shift in approach to supply chain readiness. Read more about the DLA Director’s “just enough” logistics strategy here.
Driving Change Through Committed Action
DLA Land and Maritime Acting Commander Ken Watson delivered the symposium's closing remarks, summarizing the productive discussions and reiterating the urgency of the current environment. Watson echoed Morani’s earlier emphasis on DOD priorities, particularly the need to ensure warfighter readiness. He highlighted Secretary Hegseth's call to revive the defense industrial base, reform acquisition processes and rapidly field emerging technologies. Watson stressed the necessity of high, uncompromising standards and a collective sense of urgency to strengthen logistics capabilities, referencing Morani’s concept of a "logistics deterring effect."
“We’re in unprecedented times when it comes to the proliferation of technology around the globe and how that is impacting the global security outlook,” he said.
He called back to former Senior Technology Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Dr. Christine Michienzi’s point during her June 11 keynote remarks that the defense industrial base has been optimized for peacetime efficiency rather than resiliency, leading to a lack of surge capability for many systems. Watson underscored the challenging reality that adversaries operate under different rules when it comes to securing supply chain capability and capacity, citing China's dominance in markets like rare earths and attempts at the same with semiconductors. This creates notable vulnerabilities, particularly for essential components like magnets.
Watson said it brings into sharp focus the need to shift demand away from adversarial sources back to the U.S. and allied nations to ensure sustainable capabilities.
Watson further emphasized the importance of fostering innovation, leveraging data and Artificial Intelligence for precise demand forecasting, and embracing decentralized, secure and interoperable systems to ensure the right supplies reach the right place at the right time. A key part of this is increasing demand planning accuracy, with a goal to reach 85 percent accuracy by the end of fiscal year 2026, a target dubbed “Drive to 85.”
Looking ahead, Watson announced the next DLA Supply Chain Alliance Symposium is scheduled for June 2-3, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio. In closing, Watson urged all attendees – industry, government and the military services alike – to maintain the spirit of collaboration beyond the symposium, stating, “It’s really on all of us to derive actionable strategies and effective solutions. Don’t let the collaboration and communication die. While this symposium is once a year, it’s not a once-a-year event for us to collaborate…commit to doing that together daily.”