https://crsreports.congress.gov
June 15, 2020
National Stockpiles: Background and Issues for Congress
The United States maintains several distinct stockpiles of
supplies, equipment, and raw materials that may be used for
a national emergency, military operation, or other natural
disaster or manmade event where commercial supply and
distribution are unavailable. Some of these stockpiles were
established by Congress in law, while others began as
policy-driven initiatives of federal departments and
agencies. In general, there are two types of stockpiles that
the U.S. government owns and manages: (1) those intended
to support a subset of the general public in an emergency
(i.e., public stockpiles) and (2) those intended to support the
national defense during a war or other type of military
operation (i.e., defense stockpiles).
Typically, a single federal department (including military
departments) is responsible for managing each stockpile.
Within departments, stockpiles are often supported by one
or more logistics organizations that provide procurement,
storage, transportation, disposal, and/or other technical
services to stockpile managers. The degree to which
stockpile managers store certain goods, instead of relying
on pre-negotiated or rapidly executed contracts to deliver
goods in an emergency, varies. Stockpile managers often
consider several factors when making a decision to
stockpile, including: statutory requirements, forecasted
commercial availability of a product/material, anticipated
loss of suppliers in a certain geographic area during an
emergency, forecasted demand during peacetime and
emergencies, the rareness or criticality of a material, and a
department’s overall stockpiling strategy.
Examples of Public Stockpiles
Federally owned public stockpiles are meant to be deployed
when a domestic emergency overwhelms local or state
supplies. Additionally, they may contain specialized assets,
such as smallpox vaccines unlikely to be stockpiled locally.
The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS)
In 1999, the Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) established a stockpile of vaccines and antidotes to
respond to biological or chemical agent attacks on the
United States. In 2002, Congress named this initiative the
“Strategic National Stockpile” and expanded its mission “to
provide for the emergency health security of the United
States … in the event of a bioterrorist attack or other public
health emergency” (see Title 42, U.S. Code [U.S.C.]
§247d–6b). According to HHS, the SNS contains
“potentially life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical
supplies for use in a public health emergency in which local
supplies have been or may be depleted.”
The HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and
Response (HHS/ASPR) manages the SNS, including
procurement, storage, deployment, and replenishment of
supplies (otherwise SNS assets). State and local authorities
request assets and are generally responsible for receiving,
staging, distributing, and dispensing assets. However, in the
current COVID-19 response, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) is coordinating allocation
and delivery of SNS assets. Examples of assets stockpiled
include: antibiotics, anti-bioterrorism vaccines (e.g.,
smallpox and anthrax vaccines), personal protective
equipment (PPE), and ventilators. SNS storage sites are
geographically distributed across the United States to
enable the delivery of initial assets within 12 hours of a
request (typically made by a state governor). HHS provides
SNS assets at no cost to receiving authorities.
Prior to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the SNS contained
about $8 billion of medical assets. Figure 1 shows SNS
funding and asset deployment history.
Figure 1. SNS Funding and Deployments
In millions of FY2019 dollars
Source: Department of Health and Human Services; CRS Graphics.
According to 42 U.S.C. §247d–6b, HHS is required to
provide Congress an annual threat-based assessment of the
sufficiency of stockpile contents.
Veterans Health Administration (VHA) All-
Hazards Emergency Cache (AHEC)
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) VHA maintains
its own stockpile (otherwise caches) of drugs and medical
supplies at VA medical facilities. Its contents are meant for
local VA “facility Veterans and staff during the initial 48
hours of a major catastrophic emergency.” These caches
serve to bridge any gap between what might be available
on-hand at local VA medical facilities, and what other
resources such as the SNS could provide.
As established by VA policy, each cache (formally AHEC)
is considered both a federal and community asset. The VA
