SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (Dec 10, 2021) – U.S. Air Force Gen. Jacqueline D. Van Ovost, commander, U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), participated in the National Defense Transportation Association board of directors meeting in Washington, D.C. yesterday to provide the command’s perspective on various transportation topics and hear from industry partners.
Van Ovost thanked industry representatives for their work facing the challenges of the past year, reiterated the command’s focus on warfighting readiness to execute logistics responsibilities, and shared how the command is evolving.
“As we embrace the concept of integrated deterrence, we leverage our unique linkages to you here in industry, while ensuring logistics activities will remain a deterrent to our adversaries,” she said. “Our formations, our activities, our investments, our exercises, and just you being out there in your networks, will cause a doubt in their mind to say, you know what, today is not the day. And every time today is not the day, it’s a good day.”
Van Ovost became the 14th commander of USTRANSCOM in October and shared how her initial focus can be characterized by “listening, learning, and assessing.”
“While we are the best in the world at what we do, I can confirm that we do not yet have all the processes, the capabilities, and the assurance to do what we need to do into the future,” she said.
In the coming months, Van Ovost said she will be focused on getting out and interacting with the enterprise, visiting combatant commands, industry partners, and academia to hear and consider their insights.
Earlier in the meeting, industry representatives provided reports on aviation, sealift, surface transportation, logistics and distribution, cybersecurity, and passenger travel. Van Ovost said she was proud of the commercial partnerships across the Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise and noted the strength that comes from working together.
USTRANSCOM exists as a warfighting combatant command to project and sustain military power at a time and place of the nation’s choosing. Powered by dedicated men and women, TRANSCOM underwrites the lethality of the Joint Force, advances American interests around the globe, and provides our nation's leaders with strategic flexibility to select from multiple options, while creating multiple dilemmas for our adversaries.
