Who is NOT on the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience?
On Monday, November 27th, President Biden dedicated the afternoon to supply chains. When it was announced that they would be forming a White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience I needed to know more.
What will they do?
How will it affect private business?
Who will be on the Council?
In this week’s episode of Dial P for Procurement , I diverted from a well-laid plan to cover this week's news about supply chain at the Federal level. To learn more about the almost 30 new actions, listen to this week’s audio.
The newly formed Council will be co-chaired by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard.?
It includes nearly every member of the President’s Cabinet: the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, the Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and the Attorney General.?
It also includes a few non-cabinet people who already have cabinet-level access to the President: “the Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Small Business Administration; the Directors of National Intelligence, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy; the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; the U.S. Trade Representative; and other senior officials from the Executive Office of the President and other agencies.”
Who is NOT on the Council?
It has been a long time since I took civics, but I was hard pressed to think of who from the Cabinet wasn’t appointed to the Council. I pulled the list of the Cabinet members and the new Council membership and compared them. It was easy; the wording is nearly verbatim from the White House website.?
The newly formed White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience is the Cabinet and executive advisors minus three people:
Something tells me the Chief of Staff can just pop in anytime he wants, and I understand why the ambassador to the United Nations isn’t on the Council.
What it comes down to is that they could have just asked Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to step out of the room and the Council on Supply Chain Resilience would have been formed.
Or they could have sent the Secretary of Education, the Chief of Staff, and the UN Ambassador for an early lunch, and... Voila! Council on Supply Chain Resilience!
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Who else is not on the Council?
In February of 2021, the White House announced an Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains . The EO set out a vision for supply chain strength, called for a 100-day review of specific supply chains, and required sectoral supply chain assessments.
Section 2 of the order called for coordination. “In implementing this order, the heads of agencies should, as appropriate, consult outside stakeholders — such as those in industry, academia, non-governmental organizations, communities, labor unions, and State, local, and Tribal governments — in order to fulfill the policy identified in section 1 of this order.”
So why is the new Council = the Cabinet minus the Secretary of Education - and absolutely no one else? How is the White House going to make supply chains more resilient without giving private sector experts the opportunity to share their know-how?
In procurement and supply chain, it is common to lament not having a ‘seat at the table.’
I don’t put much energy onto that effort. My theory is: just do your job and the results will speak for themselves. But this might be the exception that proves the rule. A new group of people, with diverse perspectives and direct experience, should be at that table when the big decisions are made.
If economic and national security are at stake, can the administration afford NOT to have private industry present?
Unsolicited Supply Chain Advice
It seems to me that voicing criticism without offering an alternative suggestion is a poor practice.
If someone from the White House reads this article or listens to my podcast and thinks, “Oh yeah? If you think you’re so smart, who would you put on the Council?” I want to be ready.
So, just for fun… Who would I appoint to the White House Council for Supply Chain Resilience?
But, let’s face it - that phone call isn’t coming. I'm nothing if not realistic.
My ideas involve too much common sense - and they might actually change things for the better. Or… maybe everyone would just fight and nothing would happen, but at least it would be fun to watch.?(I did invite Sean O'Brien after all.)
Was this week’s news really news? I don’t know, but I’m a little disappointed.?
It seems too bad to send the Secretary of Education to lunch early so the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience can meet… From my perspective, the Federal government still has a lot to learn about supply chain resilience.
Inventor | Consultant | Designer | #5 Ranked Global Thought Leader by Thinkers 360 [Smart Cities] #23 [Sustainability] #30 [Supply Chain]
11 个月Solving problems is not on their agenda, they can't ask for more funds if the solutions are effective. We have a major issue with commerce and most other services coming to our neighborhoods and it is hard to quantify the crimes related to the last mile issue beyond package theft. I have tried alerting everyone I can the potential risk of having unregulated deliveries to your front door by saying "what in the PORCH are we thinking" along with effective solutions. #whitehouse #scm here is our latest video explaining https://youtu.be/1brvj9DHWQg?si=HH0bA9AwTHqlwODh
Professor of Supply Chain Management @ Arizona State University
11 个月Hi Kelly - Great post! I reposted with a perspective that, in fact, reveals Miguel Cardona should stay on the council. It's difficult to improve resilience without improving knowledge, and education systems are core to knowledge supply chain economics. Thanks again!
Professor, Advisor, Consultant
12 个月I was asked to serve on the WH Council of Economic Advisors and was surprised to learn that it requires I’d have to cease all communications with the private sector. No thanks! These leaders need more executive and academic representation !
Marketing Strategist | Connector | DEIB Ally | Servant Leader | Community Builder | Influencer Relations | Storytelling | SAP Alum
12 个月FYI Marcela Escobar-Alava if anyone you know wants sn intro.
Supply Chain Leader | High-Performance Transformations | Building teams to achieve lower costs and higher performance
12 个月Spot on. Kelly, you summarized my quick, gut reaction extremely well. You certainly hit the major issue very directly - how will the expertise of industry be folded into this process? I hold no hope this council will improve anything without the direct involvement of industry. Dare I say, minimizing the direct involvement of government would be even better.