The Pentagon’s first-ever defense industrial base policy, to be released in early December, will outline Defense Department efforts to bolster a stretched workforce and supply chain along with ways to make acquisition more flexible.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks ordered the policy’s creation this year as the defense industrial base continues to reel from COVID-19 pandemic issues and faces modernization challenges.

Justin McFarlin, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial base development and international engagement, said Oct. 25 that the policy is currently being shared with international partners and industry representatives so that the release will not be a “huge surprise” and should be broadly supported.

The inaugural policy will be published to coincide with the Reagan National Defense Forum in early December, McFarlin said during the ComDef 2023 conference in Arlington, Virginia.

The policy will focus on four key areas: resilient supply chain, workforce readiness, flexible acquisition and economic deterrence, McFarlin says. The specific findings will not be announced until release, but McFarlin says the Pentagon is working to address issues that industry regularly raises. Specifically, the Defense Department will focus on the taxed supply chain, particularly for munitions. This issue came to a head during the pandemic and was greatly exacerbated by the surge of weapons to Ukraine.