Agility will be the key to meeting the logistical challenges of providing for the warfighter on a more dispersed battlefield, DoD’s chief logistician says.

Army Lt. Gen. Darrell K. Williams, director of the Defense Logistics Agency, said support for the U.S. military’s global mission has moved from that of a regional static supply chain to one that can respond more quickly through strong partnerships with all the services across the globe.

“It's not our ability to be everywhere, but is our ability to get there when we need to be,” Williams said at a breakfast forum hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army’s Institute of Land Warfare. He has headed the Defense Department’s combat logistics support agency for a year, but said he’s seen a critical transformation over the past 15 years in how support is provided, and he maintains the agency is far more agile than ever. “Solutions to challenges within DLA are increasingly global and not just national or regional.”

The DLA works alongside all the services, enabling the provision of required goods and services in real time. That critical interoperability is what allows the agency to support dispersed forces throughout the world, Williams said.

Asserting that the DLA is now postured to support “much, much more dispersed formations,” Williams said he believes “one of our greatest assets right now is in fact our agility.”