I. INTRODUCTION
A. BACKGROUND
In the wake ofthe end ofthe cold war and the victory in Operation Desert Storm
came a call from the civilian and military leadership to downsize the military. The
impact ofthat order can be seen in a dramatic reduction in manpower and infrastructure
for all ofthe Services. The Bottom Up Review (BUR) and the Base Realignment and
Closure Commission (BRAC) are the vehicles upon which a smaller force and a smaller
Department ofDefense (DOD) budget is planned and executed. The declining budgets
were further exacerbated due to numerous contingency operations such as those in
Somalia and Haiti. This has deeply affected the DOD's ability to fund even routine
operations and procurement.
The declining budgets have focused the military's attention toward doing more
with less and finding inventive ways to get the most from their procurement dollars.
DOD has had to look in every area, from operations to administration, to find ways to
cut waste, improve efficiency, and still maintain a viable defense force. One area on
which Congress and DOD have focused much oftheir attention in the last decade is the
enormous inventories that are carried to support operating forces throughout the world.
The General Accounting Office (GAO) has been repeatedly called upon by Congress to
determine the dollar value invested in the military's expansive inventories. This has led
DOD, and most specifically the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), to direct those