FORT BELVOIR, Va. –
While both Norway and the United States are NATO allies, they’re very different nations. With Norway’s size closer to that of New Mexico or Montana and the U.S. population being about 61 times larger than Norway’s, their federal and defense budgets are vastly different.
Despite these differences, Defense Logistics Agency and Norwegian military leaders discussed several areas where both nations are on the same page.
Chief of Defense Staff of the Norwegian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Ingrid Gjerde visited the DLA Headquarters Dec. 11.
She met with DLA Director Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly, Vice Director Brad Bunn, Senior Enlisted Leader Army Command Sgt. Maj. Petra Casarez, Deputy Director of Logistics Operations David Kless, DLA Energy Deputy Director George Atwood, DLA Distribution Acting Director of Plans, Training and Modernization Keith Nunn and State Department Foreign Policy Advisor Bryan Marcus.
Calling the United States her country’s most important ally, Gjerde noted that she met with DLA leadership in Norway several months ago and became interested in learning more about the agency.
“We have a lot in common, but of course, we are very different,” Gjerde said.
Simerly described how DLA is organized and discussed the agency’s relationships within the Department of War, the military services, whole-of-government partners, the industrial base and combatant commands. They also discussed DLA’s mission and transformational imperatives, its priorities for fiscal 2026, support in Europe and Africa and support to the F-35.
Supply chain modernization is a common area of concern for both nations.
DLA is looking at ways to adopt technology employed by commercial supply chains as part of its digital strategy, Simerly said.
“We really try to try to do it ourselves, but we see how far behind we are compared to civilian businesses,” Gjerde said about Norway, adding that there are additional concerns about supply chain resilience and security.
Those are also topics of concern in the United States, Bunn said.
“It’s more than the military protecting the supply chains,” he said. “Bringing more resilience to supply chains is what we absolutely need in order to avoid risk, whether it’s a conflict in the future, or some other risk we’re dealing with.”
Supply chain security and mitigating risks are areas that both nations are working on.
“That’s what we find really challenging – the security of the systems,” Gjerde said, adding that relying that supply chains operated by civilian companies and protecting them is an issue for everyone, especially logisticians.
Simerly explained the roles and responsibilities of DLA’s nine supply chains. He emphasized that the agency has a strong foundation in automation, and many procurement actions are managed through automated systems.
DLA is in the process of migrating systems that are over 30 years old into modern systems, Bunn said. The agency’s digital landscape includes multiple ways of planning, forecasting and data warehousing and analysis.
The focus is to standardize those processes and get a better understanding of all the data the agency has and doesn’t have, he said. It’s a journey that commercial industry is on as well.
“The goal is to have more real-time understanding of what's happening in terms of the planning side and what's happening within our supply chains so that we can be more predictive,” Bunn said. “In the world of logistics, it's all about making the right estimate and taking action based on our understanding of the requirement.”
DLA is using artificial intelligence for supply chain optimization, which takes data that gives the agency a real-time dashboard view and allows for better decisions based on forecasts, Simerly said.
The agency also has a pilot with the U.K. military to share logistics data, particularly weapons support systems, he added.
Gjerde said her country is looking into similar opportunities.
“I hope you are willing to share with your allies so we can learn from each other and succeed,” she said.
Cyber vulnerability is profound and affects both nations as well, Simerly said.
“Our attack surface is immense, and by definition we operate in the nexus between commercial and government networks because of our commercial suppliers,” Simerly said. “This is where we must have strong cyber resilience. And it’s not just protecting our own network; it’s understanding risk to our supplier networks and being able to mitigate it.”
Simerly also discussed DLA’s presence in the Arctic and the inclusion of Sweden and Finland in NATO.
“We understand the strategic importance of your part of the world is and the importance of your operations. That’s one of the many reasons why we’ve had this strong partnership through the years,” Simerly said.
He said he wants to ensure that DLA’s presence includes the level of readiness necessary to support us and the alliance in that part of the world.
“We know that you are working actively with those new NATO partners, and so we want to understand those and support those plans, particularly if we bring U.S. forces overland,” Simerly said.
DLA will continue supporting the campaigns and exercises in the area, he said.
Norway is strengthening its defense with a long-term plan financed over the next 12 years, but host-nation support is important because the country relies on its allies for operations and training, Gjerde said.
DLA is closely tied with members of the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation, Atwood noted. The agency has an acquisition cross-servicing arrangement with the Norwegian government to buy and sell fuel, and a fuel support agreement is in the works to codify that agreement.
“There’s a lot of great opportunity to partner with Norway, and we think we’ll continue to build on that as we move forward,” Atwood said.
At the end of the discussion, Gjerde again noted the common interests of the U.S. and Norway.
“We have a lot to learn from you, so I’m grateful for the transparency,” Gjerde said. “I hope we can continue to share and discuss, and you’re always welcome to Norway.”