Quick follow-on to two recent LOG Blog posts (“New GAO Report on Atrophied Supplier Base” and “New Fiscal Year 2020 Industrial Capabilities Report”), encourage defense acquisition workforce members to read through a sobering new report from the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) entitled "Industrial Mobilization: Assessing Surge Capabilities, Wartime Risk, and System Brittleness".

According to the CSIS, “with the shift of U.S. strategic focus to great power competition, interest in industrial mobilization for a long-term, high-intensity conflict has returned. However, the highly consolidated and fragile U.S. defense industrial base is not designed to meet this challenge….The study found that it would take many years to replace weapon inventories in the event of a long, high-intensity conflict, even at surge production rates. Further, the study found that the industrial base has become more brittle over time, as it takes longer to replace inventories at FY 2020 production rates than at FY 1999 production rates.”