Analysis and evaluation of the ability of the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement to support U.S. sealift requirements during two nearly simultaneous major regional conflicts

摘要

The Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) is an interagency agreement between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) and represents a new level of cooperation between the DOT's Maritime Administration, DOD, and U.S. commercial shipping companies. VISA was formulated in the wake of sealift lessons learned during the Persian Gulf War of 1990 to 1991 and was approved by the Secretary of Defense on January 30, 1997 as a sealift readiness program. The purpose of VISA is to make intermodal systems, including ships, ships' space, and intermodal equipment and management services available to DOD as required to support emergency deployment and sustainment of U.S. military forces. the President's National Security Strategy calls for the United States to be able to defeat adversaries in two distant, simultaneous major theater wars. According to DOD, VISA will provide adequate commercial sealift and intermodal capabilities, when combined with organic sealift assets, to provide sustainment in support of the National Security Strategy. This research examines the development of VISA, its implementation process, and analyses its ability to provide sufficient sealift in the event of two nearly simultaneous major regional conflicts.