A key strategic issue in pre-disaster planning for humanitarian logistics is the pre-establishment of adequate capacity and resources that enable efficient relief operations. This paper develops a two-stage stochastic optimization model to guide the allocation of budget to acquire and position relief assets, decisions that typically need to be made well in advance before a disaster strikes. The optimization focuses on minimizing the expected number of casualties, so our model includes first-stage decisions to represent the expansion of resources such as warehouses, medical facilities with personnel, ramp spaces, and shelters. Second-stage decisions concern the logistics of the problem, where allocated resources and contracted transportation assets are deployed to rescue critical population (in need of emergency evacuation), deliver required commodities to stay-back population, and transport the transfer population displaced by the disaster. Because of the uncertainty of the event's location and severity, these and other parameters are represented as scenarios. Computational results on notional test cases provide guidance on budget allocation and prove the potential benefit of using stochastic optimization.

Proceedings of the Annual Acquisition Research ProgramThe following article is taken as an excerpt from the proceedings of the annual

=^Å èìáëáíáçå=oÉëÉ~êÅÜ=mêçÖê~ã= do^ar^qb=p`elli=lc=_rpfkbpp=C=mr_if`=mlif`v= k^s^i=mlpqdo^ar^qb=p`elli= Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited.

This research explores the core capabilities of the U.S. military as well as of non-military organizations through the lens of the disaster response life cycle.Disasters and war share several attributes, such as the presence of displaced, injured, and vulnerable persons and the need for functioning infrastructure and life support through the distribution of emergency supplies and services. Both the U.S.military and non-military organizations bring assets, skills, and capabilities to a humanitarian crisis; however, the competencies and capacities of each are far from homogeneous. Identification of the specific competencies and capabilities that are core to the types of organizations bringing logistics and support to a crisis can enable better planning by both military and non-military organizations such that greater effectiveness and efficiency in the humanitarian response are achieved.Keywords: competencies and capabilities, U.S. military, non-governmental organizations, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, HADR She has over 20 years of experience teaching operations management, operations research, and mathematics courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. At NPS, she teaches mathematical modeling, for which she won the best teacher award, and she has advised over 70 students for over 30 MBA/master's reports, out of which several students have worked and more are working in humanitarian logistics. She has also advised emergency planners in preparing for disaster response. She is the founding and current president for a new college (focus group) in humanitarian operations and crisis management under the flagship academic professional society in her intellectual area of study, the Production and Operations

Governmental organizations play a major role in disaster relief operations. Supply chains set up to respond to disasters differ dramatically in many dimensions that affect the cost of relief efforts. One factor that has been described recently is self-sustainment, which occurs when supplies consumed by intermediate stages of a supply chain must be provided via the chain itself because they are not locally available. This article applies the concept of self-sustainment to response supply chains. A mathematical model of a self-sustaining response supply chain is developed. Analysis of this model yields insights about the relationships and interactions among self-sustainment, speed of disaster onset, dispersion of impact, and the cost of the relief efforts.