Pentagon reviewing proposal to create 'Logistics Command'.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

Seeking to fix longstanding snags in military logistics operations, the Pentagon is considering a possible merger of the U.S. Transportation Command and the Defense Logistics Agency.

Shortcomings in what the Defense Department calls the "sustainment" of forces in the field--the ability to keep troops fed, ammunition stocked and vehicles fueled over an extended deployment--have prompted a number of studies and calls for reform.

How to best manage and execute logistics operations has been debated for decades. It is not uncommon to hear that military commanders "don't trust the system" to deliver the needed supplies on time. The problem becomes particularly acute in wartime, when the logistics pipelines are overstretched.

With the United States at war in Iraq, Afghanistan and with forces deployed in peacekeeping roles elsewhere, the "sustainment" problem will get worse, unless the Pentagon takes action to revamp logistics practices, officials said.

"All things have a time for change. Maybe this is the moment to change," said Navy Rear Adm. Christopher Ames, director of plans and policy at the U.S. Transportation Command.

Ames believes that combining Transportation Command and DLA under a single organization would go a long way to improve the logistics support to U.S. forces. Commanders in the field today do not get adequate support, due to a lack of synchronization between transportation and supply providers, Ames said in an interview.

"We have two stovepipes," he said. One is the Transportation Command, responsible for moving equipment and troops. The other is DLA, which purchases and stores supplies.

"Right now, the two are not joined in a harmonious end-to-end system," said Ames. "We have fragmented into stovepipes two different elements that should be joint: transportation and supply." The upshot is that the suppliers are not making the most efficient use of transportation resources, he said. "To best support the war fighter, we have to maximize the productivity of each of our precious lift assets."

Further, the current system is "convoluted," he explained. Anyone would have a hard time sketching in a wire diagram "the way we order parts, the way we ship them, the way we draw them from warehouses, the way they are moved to vendors, on trains, planes and ships, before they get to the end user.

A merger of DLA and Transportation Command would create a "single accountable individual" who would be responsible for the entire logistics process...