bob10
12th February 2021, 12:55 PM
America’s Stockpiles Are Hardly Strategic - Defense One (https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021/02/americas-stockpiles-are-hardly-strategic/171961/)
Among President Biden’s first acts was to order (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/26/2021-01865/a-sustainable-public-health-supply-chain) a “status and inventory” report from the Strategic National Stockpile (https://www.phe.gov/about/sns/Pages/default.aspx), a once-quiet backwater of the public-health bureaucracy thrust into the spotlight amid last year’s acute shortages (https://www.npr.org/2020/11/23/937978556/a-revamped-strategic-national-stockpile-still-cant-match-the-pandemics-latest-su) of medical supplies and equipment. Now, as the pandemic and competition with great powers fuel proposals to construct additional stockpiles—and not simply of gloves and ventilators—it is worth taking stock (https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11574) of where we are (https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/state-us-strategic-stockpiles). Many of our existing reserves lack clear direction and face an uncertain future.
Federal stockpiles essentially come in three flavors: medical, defense, and commodities. The SNS and All-Hazards Emergency Caches contain a wide array of medical drugs and other supplies. The National Veterinary Stockpile fulfills this function for livestock (https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/emergen).
Among President Biden’s first acts was to order (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/26/2021-01865/a-sustainable-public-health-supply-chain) a “status and inventory” report from the Strategic National Stockpile (https://www.phe.gov/about/sns/Pages/default.aspx), a once-quiet backwater of the public-health bureaucracy thrust into the spotlight amid last year’s acute shortages (https://www.npr.org/2020/11/23/937978556/a-revamped-strategic-national-stockpile-still-cant-match-the-pandemics-latest-su) of medical supplies and equipment. Now, as the pandemic and competition with great powers fuel proposals to construct additional stockpiles—and not simply of gloves and ventilators—it is worth taking stock (https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11574) of where we are (https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/state-us-strategic-stockpiles). Many of our existing reserves lack clear direction and face an uncertain future.
Federal stockpiles essentially come in three flavors: medical, defense, and commodities. The SNS and All-Hazards Emergency Caches contain a wide array of medical drugs and other supplies. The National Veterinary Stockpile fulfills this function for livestock (https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/emergen).