NORAD, NORTHCOM logistics director emphasizes the homeland as a theater of operations

Defense planners must balance projecting combat power abroad with actively defending domestic infrastructure and sustaining forces, the top logistics officer for North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command told Defense Logistics Agency employees during a Warfighter Talk Sept. 16.

"The homeland is a theater of operations, and you have to think of it as a theater of operations," said Army Maj. Gen. Mark W. Siekman, the director of logistics for NORAD and USNORTHCOM. "I think a lot of folks are still trying to wrap their head around what a contested homeland could look like."

Siekman outlined three primary priorities for USNORTHCOM: maintaining the territorial integrity of the United States, securing Arctic and far-north approaches, and preparing domestic cyber and sustainment networks for protracted conflict.

While military exercises may treat domestic threats as isolated incidents, Siekman said that adversaries might plan synchronized campaigns designed to paralyze military mobility.

"I think you all have been planning here and across the globe for the different non-kinetic activities that will occur here in the homeland to not only disrupt and delay, but potentially destroy - and definitely degrade - our ability to move materiel at speed and at scale to the warfighter in whatever combatant command is requiring it," Siekman said

Siekman next emphasized that the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions are rapidly becoming critical operational axies. In the Pacific theater, he explained that northern geography offers significant strategic advantages.

However, he described how sustaining forces in Arctic climates presents extreme environmental and infrastructure challenges, from frozen deep-water ports to aging ski-equipped transport aircraft operating in sub-zero temperatures. USNORTHCOM is looking at the potential to pre-position stock in partnership with other military service geographic and functional commands.

Siekman also introduced the concept of defense support nodes that allow combatant commanders to direct capabilities and resources at service-owned domestic installations during homeland defense contingencies.

"This really came to the forefront around the southern border in being able to position forces and capability along the border," Siekman said, adding that it's also relevant for the Golden Dome for America to quickly approach military installations for setting up sensors and equipment.

Addressing questions from the workforce on emerging technology, Siekman highlighted USNORTHCOM's collaboration with U.S. Pacific Command and the Defense Innovation Unit to field the Joint Sustainment Decision Tool. The AI-enabled planning system would aggregate logistics data to model consumption rates and project whether a plan is feasible from a sustainment perspective.

Editor's Note: This article includes elements of AI-generated content, reviewed for accuracy by War Department employees.