It’s not every day that The Wall Street Journal publishes an editorial by the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, entitled “How to Secure the Global Supply Chain” (Jan.6,2011). In it, Napolitano writes, “The complex supply chain that consumers and businesses in the US rely on every day is a target for those who seek to disrupt global commerce”. This is certainly a topic we need to consider adding to our discussions of global OM issues in Ch.2 and Ch.11.
Regardless of where a terrorist event takes place, a significant disruption of our supply chain may follow. An example was the Oct., 2010 plot to put explosives on a UPS cargo flight bound for the US from Yemen. 
Following that act, the Dept. of Homeland Security required all cargo on passenger planes within the US to be screened. It also screens all US-bound air cargo that is considered high risk (most likely from terror-sponsoring countries, I would surmise).
Napolitano names 3 elements to the US plan:
1. “Preventing terrorists from exploiting the supply chain to plan and execute attacks”. This means working with customs groups and shippers to keep chemicals out of the hands of terrorists.
2.”We must protect the most critical elements of the supply chain, like central transportation hubs, from attack or disruption”.
3.”We must make the global supply chain more resilient, so that in case of disruption it can recover quickly”.
Incidentally, 2 days after this article, the Journal reported that Secretary Napolitano received a small bomb in a package that exploded in her mailroom (WSJ, Jan.8-9,2011).
Discussion questions:
1. In what ways can a disruption of the global supply chain impact a business in the US, such as IBM, GE, or Boeing?
2. What other events, beside a terrorist strike, can effect the supply chain? How?