Logistics for Policymakers

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

This course provides an overview of how logistics serves as a key tool for expressing national power. We will begin with an overview of ideas and concepts applicable to all areas of logistics. We will then use this foundation to explore three fields where logistics plays a defining role: defense, international trade, and disaster relief. In each area, we will develop concepts using a mix of directed lectures, exercises, case study analysis, and discussion. By the end of the course, students will have a robust understanding of how logistics serves as both a constraint to, and an enabler of, traditional national power. This is not a course for professional logisticians seeking advanced technical discussions. On the contrary, this is a course about logistics for non-logisticians – a course about logistics for leaders and policymakers. This course provides a critical foundation in logistics for students seeking to work in defense and homeland security agencies, military organizations, legislative committees, and humanitarian response groups. Successful students will learn how to manage, support, and direct the logistics components of these organizations to achieve success and avoid failure.