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# Summit provides ‘face’ time for agency leaders, customer representatives

By Dianne Ryder

The Defense Logistics Agency hosted a two-day Global Customer-Facing Summit March 8-9, where those who are the “face” of DLA to customers discussed plans and concerns with peers from around the world.

DLA Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Andy Busch spoke to more than 200 customer-facing employees at Fort Belvoir (Virginia) Officers’ Club at the event.    

 “The enterprise is doing very well, but there are a lot of opportunities and a lot of risks,” Busch said. “That’s what we need you to help us think about in whatever capacity that you fill in the enterprise.”

 He said the world is changing in many ways; threats are evolving, and the need to become “trans-regional” — to share responsibility for problems across the combatant commands — is crucial.

“We are only one agency, and we have to think about how we can leverage our resources to better support whatever forces are going to be allocated to each of the combatant commanders,” he said. “That requires a lot of thought and integration. And it requires the things that you do in your customer-facing roles.”

Busch spoke about strategic goals and the important role the geographic combatant commands play, particularly U.S. Central Command, one of the main theaters he visits as director.

“There has not been a requirement that’s thrown at us that we couldn’t meet with the existing business relationships we had over there,” he said.

The director also noted big changes in U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. European Command, particularly regarding data protection and cyber security.

“Our business processes are not adequate to support the threat that exists; we need to think cyber,” he said. “What is it that we’re putting out there that our adversaries can exploit? We’re seeing evidence that they are exploiting that information.”

Busch said a concern he brought to his position was the important role of the nuclear enterprise.

However, “it was only a partially informed concern, because I have learned so much more, as has this agency, on how we can better support U.S. Strategic Command,” he said. “There’s a lot more out there that they do in terms of their space-based assets, nuclear command control communication — all things that require and demand more attention from us.”

Busch also addressed how the agency enables the “smaller” combatant commands, U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Southern Command. He said though the scope is different, their impact is just as significant as that of the larger commands. 

The director discussed DLA’s relationship with stakeholders such U.S. Transportation Command and stressed the need for more contingency-based partnerships.  

Busch also talked about the role of the military services and demand planners, support to whole-of-government customers and DLA's role in disaster preparedness. 

“The need could not be higher for you folks as our customer-facing teams to be integrated and involved and fighting to get our message out,” he said. “I need you to know how much I value what you do in that regard. And I need to tell you that our work is not done.”

The summit consisted of breakout sessions and roundtable discussions on deployment, budget, the nuclear enterprise, executive development and information technology issues, as well as panel discussions with senior leaders from the DLA field activities and headquarters. 

Peter Battaglia, a program analyst in DLA’s Logistics Operations directorate, said the summit was important for several reasons, including as an opportunity for the customer-facing employees to re-familiarize themselves with DLA and its ongoing efforts.

"The networking and being able to talk to their counterparts, establishing relationships, mentoring, and advice-giving —  to me, that’s the No. 1 benefit,” he said. “It allows the customer-facing representatives to understand that they are part of a larger picture with a network of support to utilize.”

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