According to the GAO, “the Department of Defense relies on contracted goods and services to carry out missions. Since 2010, DOD has identified climate change as a threat to its operations and installations.Climate effects can damage infrastructure—for example, flooding can damage roads or electrical infrastructure—in turn delaying critical goods like food or services like information technology. However, DOD hasn’t routinely assessed how climate change or extreme weather risks could affect its contractors and its access to goods and services. (The GAO) recommended, among other things, incorporating climate resilience into military acquisition and supply guidance.”

From a supply chain risk management perspective, cognizance of and risk mitigation strategies for any potential natural disaster or weather related issue is simply prudent, proactive, and wise. This would include developing contingency plans for everything from hurricanes and tornadoes to flash flooding, severe winter weather, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, dust storms, tsunamis, wildfires and the like. How would you ensure continued viability of potential single-point failure locations such as depots, manufacturing facilities, ordnance repositories, storage locations, rail lines, ports, and the like? While this particularly report is primarily focused on contractors, how about potential implications for organic facilities, organizations or locations? Or how you would deal with the temporary – or longer-term -- loss of a key shipyard, repair depot, supply point, manufacturing facility? What contingency planning needs to be done to ensure you can continue to support your warfighter customer regardless of -- and if necessary in spite of -- these supply chain risks?