DLA leaders call for transformation, empowered workforce at management course

The era of uncontested logistics is over and the Defense Logistics Agency must rapidly transform how it thinks, acts, operates and leverages technology to support the warfighter in future conflicts, the agency's director told acquisition professionals during a recent Industry Partnership Management Course.

The two-week, executive-level course was held at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School to enhance the strategic problem-solving skills of DLA's future acquisition leaders.

Speaking during a session about the senior leader perspective on contested logistics, DLA Director Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly described a landscape where adversaries will no longer allow the U.S. military the time to build up combat power as they have in past conflicts.

"(Our adversaries) have the means to undermine our logistics capability," Simerly said. "That's why we can't do things the way we have in the past. Just as the battlefield environment and the character of war are changing, we have to change. We have to transform our capability to be relevant in the future."

This new reality invalidates old logistics models like just-in-time and just-in-case, which Simerly noted now often means not on time and not ideal. He said the goal is to achieve "just enough" sustainment through precision, driven by data and a digitally skilled workforce.

Simerly challenged attendees to become students of not just logistics but of technology, emphasizing the need for both data and tech acumen. While calling artificial intelligence the new gunpowder for its revolutionary potential, he stressed the irreplaceability of the human element.

"You cannot be replaced by AI, because your judgment is irreplaceable," he said. "Humans do the heavy thinking. Machines do the heavy lifting."

The message of transformation was reinforced by DLA Acquisition Director Matthew Beebe, who spoke at the course's graduation ceremony. Beebe focused on empowering the workforce to execute change, telling the graduates they were chosen for the course because they are DLA's emerging leaders.

"I am very clear to the leadership across DLA, you don't go out and ask who wants to go. You tell somebody they should go because they are part of our leadership, and you represent that," Beebe said.

He connected the agency's modernization efforts to the department's new Acquisition Transformation Strategy, assuring the audience that DLA is already aligned with its core principles and must now seize the moment to accelerate change.

Responding to a question about bureaucratic hurdles, Beebe said much of the risk aversion is self-induced. His message was echoed by Matthew Kless, executive director of DLA's Program Executive Office.

"It's not about automation. It's not about technology. It's about challenging the way we do business and the way we do processes," Kless said. "Your homework is to go back and say, 'Why? Why do I need to do that?'"