Report: Strengthen supply chain security

MITRE Corp. recommends the Defense Department establish a national supply chain intelligence center.    A report released by not-for-profit research firm The MITRE Corp. recommends that the U.S. Defense Department develop a strategy to enhance its supply chain security with private-sector contractors.
   “DoD must make better use of its existing resources to identify, protect, detect, respond to and recover from network and supply chain threats,” the MITRE Corp. researchers wrote in their report, Deliver Uncompromised: A Strategy for Supply Chain Security and Resilience in Response to the Changing Character of War. 
   The researchers said the Defense Department should use its “purchasing power and regulatory authority” to ensure that the companies with which it contracts are similarly enhancing their supply chain security, including protecting against intellectual property theft, issuance of malware and use of counterfeit parts in their products for the military.
   “Through the acquisition process, DoD can influence and shape the conduct of its suppliers,” the MITRE Corp. researchers said. “It can define requirements to incorporate new security measures, reward superior security measures in the source selection process, include contract terms that impose security obligations and use contractual oversight to monitor contractor accomplishments.”
   To oversee this activity across the government, MITRE Corp. recommended that a national supply chain intelligence center be established, similar to the National Counterintelligence Security Center that was formed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The researchers said the new center also should work with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other civilian agencies. 
   The full report is available here.