Glisson: DLA To Retain Clout Despite Downsizing.

AuthorKutner, Joshua A.
PositionFuture of the Defense Logistics Agency; director Henry T. Glisson

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to take a close look at defense agencies to assess how well they contribute to the nation's military objectives. One of those agencies certain to be scrutinized is the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).

DLA is responsible for ensuring that soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines receive heir weapons and supplies in a timely manner. Its mantra is "the right item, at the right place, at the right time, at the right price." The agency's director believes his organization will remain a key player in serving the warfighters, despite potential cutbacks.

"I don't know that anybody can rest on their laurels," said Army Lt. Gen. Henry T. Glisson, DLA director, during an interview at his office, in Fort Belvoir, Va. "Every administration, I think rightfully so, comes in and tries to find areas where you can become more efficient and more effective, and we'll be part of that."

But Glisson was quick to point out that DLA already is undergoing a major realignment and consolidation process. Since he was appointed director in 1997, he has watched the number of DLA employees drop significantly. In fact, from 1992 to present, DLA personnel have decreased from 62,000 to 28,600. That number is expected to fall to 20,000 over the next four years, said Glisson. The agency also faces the challenge of trying to maintain a competent staff as it faces a potential retirement crisis. With the average age of a DLA employee currently at 47, the agency expects to lose large numbers of employees in an oncoming retirement wave.

"One of the issues we're facing is not unique to me. I think it resides throughout the Department of Defense," said Glisson. "It has to do with how do you take an aging workforce and refresh it? How do you recruit, how do you retain, and how do you retrain? You're doing it with fewer people. You've imported all of these new ideas and changes in the way that they do business, but you realize that the strength of our organization is people. Nothing happens without a world-class workforce. That's the bottom line."

To tackle this problem, DLA established its vision for the 21st century, or DLA-21. "We've tried to make a template and say 'what kind of workforce do we need to do this?' And we've gone back to our current workforce and said, 'resident within this workforce, how do you retain and retrain what you have?' Because clearly you're going to need less inventory-management skills, because business rules will take care of a lot of that resident in your new...

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