Pentagon Using AI to Protect Supply Chains

The Pentagon is using artificial intelligence to identify and secure vulnerabilities in the supply chain amid threats from Iran.

“AI is the new gunpowder,”  Defense Logistics Agency chief Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual logistics forum Feb. 17, days before Operation Epic Fury launched. “You cannot be lethal without logistics.”

A spokesperson for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), which oversees industrial security across the cleared contractor base, told GovCIO Media & Research it is applying AI-enabled tools to identify risks across the DIB and expanding partnerships with industry to strengthen network and system security.

“DCSA is leveraging various AI-enabled tools and techniques to identify risks to the [DIB],” the spokesperson said. “DCSA is also working with other federal departments and agencies, and commercial data aggregators for additional data sources to inform potential relationships and anomalies that may otherwise be missed.”

DCSA also said it is using AI-driven supply chain risk models to reflect operational realities during conflicts that affect the DIB. The agency is working with the military services and the Office of the Chief Digital and AI Officer to refine those models.

The agency said it is reassessing both its initial contractor security assessments and its continuous monitoring programs.

“These changes will evolve rapidly to meet the advanced threats with tools and techniques not in the public domain,” the spokesperson said.

Even as DCSA expands visibility into vendor networks, officials emphasized that the agency remains mindful of industry concerns about cost, burden and data protection.

“We protect their company proprietary information (PROPIN) as well as any personally identifiable information (PII) from exposure as required by federal law and policies. We do not and will not unnecessarily collect or retain any PII or PROPIN,” DCSA confirmed to GovCIO Media & Research.

Securing the supply chain with technology is critical for operations, Lt. Gen. Simerly said in February.

“You cannot be lethal without logistics,” he said. “Innovations like digital twins and digitizing supply chains to determine needs give predictive visibility, but it is through partnerships with industry that DLA can be postured for warfighter support while investing in the people within the agency through better data and technology training.”

Combatting Threats to the DIB

Defense officials say adversaries are increasingly targeting critical infrastructure in and around the Defense Industrial Base — the network of companies that manufacture and sustain U.S. military equipment — as a way to disrupt logistics and military readiness.

Those warnings took on new urgency this week after a major cyberattack linked to an Iran‑associated hacking group disrupted operations at U.S. medical device provider Stryker.

State‑sponsored cyber threats often target the DIB, including during kinetic conflict. After Operation Midnight Hammer last year, a joint National Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI and War Department Cyber Crime Center statement warned of ongoing cyber threats against DIB partners serving the military services and their supply chains.

“Iran has a documented history of responding to external pressure with cyber operations — against U.S. financial institutions, regional infrastructure and industrial control systems,” David Mussington, former executive assistant director for CISA’s Infrastructure Security Division, wrote last week. “That pattern is now an active variable, not a historical footnote.”

The warning has taken on new urgency as Iran-aligned cyber units attempt to impose costs on U.S. military operations through digital disruption of supply chains, IT systems and the DIB.

“In the past two weeks, we’ve seen … targeting of data centers and acting with cyber impact here in the states,” former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and Environment Ravi Chaudhary said Monday at the Defense Leadership Forum’s Air Force Outlook Summit. “How do we find ways around the targeting of our data centers, particularly when it comes to our big data suppliers?”