Leaders from the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force have said that their respective service branches need to implement changes in force operations, supply chain management and workforce settings following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bruce Jette, assistant Army secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology and a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, told National Defense Magazine in an interview that the service “re-looked at how we think about safety and health” and is planning to renew its focus on biological warfare, the publication reported Tuesday.
Jette noted that the Army is also looking into alternative supply sources and advanced manufacturing techniques to protect its supply chain against future pandemic disruptions.
James Geurts, assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition and fellow 2020 Wash100 awardee, said the service also needs to modify its operational activities to prevent “friction in systems and processes”. The shift to telework settings resulted in challenges for the service “for the first couple of weeks,” he added.
Will Roper, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics and also a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said the service was able to adjust its workforce to nontraditional operations in response to the pandemic.
He added that 93 percent of the Air Force is teleworking with “very little loss in productivity” because of commercial collaboration tools.
