The DoD is the single largest U.S. energy consumer. About 3/4 of its total consumption consists of mobility energy -- the energy required for moving and sustaining its forces and weapons platforms for military operations. This testimony discusses DoD¿s efforts to manage and reduce its mobility energy demand, and addresses: (1) energy issues that are likely to affect DoD in the future; (2) key departmental and military service efforts to reduce demand for mobility energy; and (3) DoD¿s management approach to guide and oversee these efforts. Includes recommendations. Charts and tables.

Defense Management: Overarching Organizational Framework Could Improve DOD's Management of Energy Reduction Efforts for Military Operations

Defense Management: Overarching Organizational Framework Needed to Guide and Oversee Energy Reduction Efforts for Military Operations

Claude Chabrol's second film follows the fortunes of two cousins: Charles, a hard-working student who has arrived in Paris from his small hometown; and Paul, the dedicated hedonist who puts him up. Despite their differences in temperament, the two young men strike up a close friendship, until an attractive woman comes between them.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest organization in the world, with operations that span a broad range of agencies, activities, and commands. With an annual budget over $500 billion, DoD employs millions of people that operate worldwide and maintains an inventory system that is an order of magnitude larger than any other in the world. However, the business systems used to manage these resources are outdated and inefficient. DoD relies on several thousand, non-integrated, and non-interoperable legacy systems, that are error prone, redundant, and do not provide the enterprise visibility necessary to make sound management decisions. In order to meet current and future challenges, DoD needs business systems that enable it to be flexible, adaptive, and accountable. Transformation of business systems and process will not only reduce costs and improve performance, it is critical for improving warfighter support. Recognizing this, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld began a business transformation initiative in July 2001. This report is divided into two parts. Part I evaluates DoD's business systems transformation effort, identifies lessons learned, and make recommendations to improve the prospects for success of the current business transformation effort. Part II includes several cases studies of business systems transformation in the federal public sector, at the Business Transformation Agency (BTA), and in the Military Services. Each case describes a specific transformation initiative and identifies lessons learned from the experience.

"The United States has long utilized private military contractors to augment regular military forces in support of its national foreign policy and security needs. Commonly referred to as Private Military Companies (PMCs), contractors employ and manage civilian personnel from the private sector in areas of active military operations. Frequently, regular troops become dependent on the services contractors provide a situation that may negatively impact military effectiveness. Since 1991, contractor support on and off the battlefield has become increasingly more visible, varied, and commonplace. Given the current manpower and resource limitations of the national military, the US will likely continue its extensive use of PMCs in support of military operations. This work addresses historical precedents and trends in American logistics, the current scope of contractor involvement in support of regular military forces, and the challenges posed as traditional military institutions integrate increasing numbers of civilian workers and privately owned assets into the battlespace. These problems increase the risk to US personnel and can induce budget overruns rather than savings, disrupt civil-military relations, and have detrimental consequences for the American economy and society. The work concludes by proposing a useful rubric to evaluate this new American way of war. This work considers PMCs and their interdependence with regular and reserve military units in a broad sense. It derives from unclassified material widely available; understandably, these sources limit the analysis. Lessons learned from the Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) theaters may alter findings. However, this study endeavors to frame the continuing dialog concerning the appropriate use of PMCs to support regular troops."--Abstract from DTIC web site.

Impending technological advances will widen an adversary’s attack plane over the next decade. Visualizing what the future will hold, and what new threat vectors could emerge, is a task that traditional planning mechanisms struggle to accomplish given the wide range of potential issues. Understanding and preparing for the future operating environment is the basis of an analytical method known as Threatcasting. It is a method that gives researchers a structured way to envision and plan for risks ten years in the future. Threatcasting uses input from social science, technical research, cultural history, economics, trends, expert interviews, and even a little science fiction to recognize future threats and design potential futures. During this human-centric process, participants brainstorm what actions can be taken to identify, track, disrupt, mitigate, and recover from the possible threats. Specifically, groups explore how to transform the future they desire into reality while avoiding an undesired future. The Threatcasting method also exposes what events could happen that indicate the progression toward an increasingly possible threat landscape. This book begins with an overview of the Threatcasting method with examples and case studies to enhance the academic foundation. Along with end-of-chapter exercises to enhance the reader’s understanding of the concepts, there is also a full project where the reader can conduct a mock Threatcasting on the topic of “the next biological public health crisis.” The second half of the book is designed as a practitioner’s handbook. It has three separate chapters (based on the general size of the Threatcasting group) that walk the reader through how to apply the knowledge from Part I to conduct an actual Threatcasting activity. This book will be useful for a wide audience (from student to practitioner) and will hopefully promote new dialogues across communities and novel developments in the area.