From A to B: How Logistics Fuels American Power and Prosperity

Logistics includes the planning and practice of moving “stuff”—raw materials, tools, finished products, and even people—from one place to another. It carried American settlers over the sparsely populated Great Plains to connect the East Coast to the West Coast and has underpinned our domestic prosperity ever since. Logistics also solidified the global power and influence of the United States by guaranteeing our ability to rapidly reinforce Europe in the world wars, by helping us win the Cold War, and by enabling the current U.S. military to fight two wars at once. Further, logistics undergirds the world economy as swelling populations vie for shrinking resources, including energy, water, arable land, food, and cheap labor.