The Security Assistance Command held an Army Materiel Command Security Assistance Enterprise Senior Leader Huddle June 2-3 that was attended by Vice Adm. Joe Rixey, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, and deputy assistant secretary of the Army for defense, exports and cooperation Ann Cataldo.
Other organizations represented ranged from the Corps of Engineers, Training and Doctrine Command, Medical Materiel Agency, AMC G-3/4 Organic Industrial Base and the life cycle management commands' security assistance management directorates and Army Contracting Command, to the Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, and USASAC's subordinate organizations, the Office of the Program Manager for the Saudi Arabian National Guard and the Security Assistance Training Management Organization.
USASAC commander Maj. Gen. Mark McDonald kicked-off the meeting with the theme, "Maintaining our performance edge while confronting the challenges … and influencing our future," and resulting in some key objectives such as: Understanding the current operational environment of security assistance and foreign military sales; appreciating the various challenges facing the AMC security assistance enterprise; and understanding the strategic focus of the combatant commands and Army service component commands.
McDonald explained that hosting the huddle enabled face-to-face collaboration and information exchange among the enterprise members, and that was really what USASAC's role in the AMC security assistance enterprise is all about.
"USASAC executes the FMS process for DoD and Army, and that means we must ensure all the organizations involved clearly understand the issues and challenges, and have a chance to brainstorm and offer solutions -- which is what this huddle is all about," he said.
Rixey echoed the need for collaboration by noting that he only had only five slides, and that the information provided was meant to generate discussion. But Rixey did point to facts showing how important the Army's role is to security assistance efforts.
"In terms of sales, and new letters of offer and acceptance, the Army is accounting for about 50 percent of the total," he noted.
Rixey emphasized that the FMS process works, but when someone says something is wrong with it, the problem needs to be clearly articulated and addressed.
"Vision 2020 is focused on us doing our job better," he said.
Rixey cited customer visibility in FMS as essential, and added, "Expectation management is 90 percent of the job." Rixey summarized the pillars of FMS with four words: "Quality, timeliness, transparency and interoperability."
Cataldo also emphasized "continuous improvement to serve our customer." She explained recent initiatives that included a Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management presentation for security cooperation officers, or SCOs, called "Speed Dating the Army." The presentation was designed to help the officers better understand the role they play in FMS, how the Army FMS process works and learn Army capabilities and make contacts.
The huddle used the topic of FMS forecasting for breakout groups to collaborate on initiatives that can provide more consistency and accuracy for FMS forecasting. A more accurate barometer of sales and types of equipment/services being requested can help improve workload planning, resource management/allocation and program management.
"This is particularly important at the (AMC's) SAMD level, which is providing the commodity or service," Dave Dornblaser, USASAC's Washington Field Office director, said.
Cataldo, in her closing remarks, urged USASAC to continue to host these AMC enterprise events, "And continue to involve DSCA and DASA-DEC, because by being here and by getting involved we can help."
McDonald was clearly pleased with the success of the gathering, remarking that with the Army now seeing more than 50 percent of DoD's FMS, it can't just try, but must maintain the performance edge -- and that can only be accomplished through teamwork venues like the huddle.
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