From leaders, to providers, to cyber warriors, to users, each Soldier
provides a critical link in cybersecurity. . . .
Major General Patricia Frost,
Director of Army Cyber Operations
1
Nearly two decades into the 21st Century, the United States nds itself
immersed in a security environment of unprecedented complexity; one
dened by re-emerging nationalism, religious radicalism, uncertainty and
volatility. America faces a number of existential threats, ranging from the
emergence of several capable regional peer competitors to the extension
of war into cyber and space domains.
2
The oensive cyber capabilities of
America’s enemies continue to evolve and have now reached the point
that the Army’s weapon systems, the industrial controls used to manufac
-
ture them and the supply chain employed to sustain them are vulnerable to
compromise.
The United States has an immense array of military forces ready to defend
the nation and its allies. To sustain its globally-deployed forces and rapid-
ly replenish combat losses, the Department of Defense (DoD) possesses a
materiel capacity second to none. Likewise, the Army, as an integral part
of the larger joint force, maintains strategically positioned, forward-based
stocks around the globe. The Army is also able to reach back and draw upon
a vast industrial enterprise. This includes: the Army’s Organic Industrial
Base (OIB), made up of 23 unique manufacturing and production facilities
that repair and recapitalize equipment, manufacture service parts and pro-
duce many of the nation’s munitions; the larger Defense Industrial Base, en-
compassing both organic components and more than 100,000 private sector
companies and their subcontractors who perform under contract; and a mul-
titude of commercial service providers who supply the energy, communi-
cations, transportation and utilities required to execute military operations.
Underpinning the eorts of this prodigious undertaking is the Single Army
Logistics Enterprise (SALE), one of the largest and most complex enter-
prise resource planning (ERP) systems ever elded. Synchronizing over 80
separate databases, SALE captures global resource requirements and pro-
vides world-wide asset visibility, all in real time.
Securing the Army’s
Weapon Systems and
Supply Chain against
Cyber Attack
NOVEMBER 2017
ILW SPOTLIGHT 17-3
PUBLISHED BY THE INSTITUTE OF LAND WARFARE
AT THE ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY
by LTG Larry Wyche, USA Ret., and Mr. Greg Pieratt
ISSUE
The U.S. Army’s weapon systems, the
industrial controls used to manufacture
them and the supply chain employed to
sustain them are vulnerable to compro-
mise by adversary offensive capabilities.
SPOTLIGHT SCOPE
• Addresses the potential impact of cy-
ber threats to the Army’s supply chain
and the corresponding vulnerability of
many of its most important systems.
• Describes potential sabotage venues,
countermeasures and recommenda-
tions for a policy roadmap to secure
the Army’s supply chain.
INSIGHTS
• Therstshotsofthenextwarcould
likelyberedincyberspace.
• The Army should apply the same level
of effort that it invests in safeguarding
its networks and information systems
toward protecting its armaments and
its ability to sustain them.
• Continued implementation of rigorous
quality standards, blind buys, the use
of tamper-proof packaging and serial
number control, software assurance
and the establishment of trusted
foundries can substantially reduce
theopportunitiesforinltrationby
potential adversaries.
www.ausa.org
1
Patricia Frost and Matthew Hutchinson “Top 10
Questions for Commanders to Ask About Cyber-
security,” Small Wars Journal, 8 December 2015.
2
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRA-
DOC), Field Manual (FM) 3.0, Operations (Washing-
ton, DC: Government Printing Ofce, 2017),
pp. 1-6–1-10.
