April Is National Supply Chain Integrity Month - Here’s What That Means.

April Is National Supply Chain Integrity Month - Here’s What That Means

Another day, another disruption in the global supply chain. In 2021 alone, we’ve seen the Suez Canal blocked, automotive manufacturers halt production due to lack of semiconductors, lumber prices increasing over 200% due to pandemic shortages, and more - all following the devastating cyber attack at Solar Winds. 

Perhaps the Wall Street Journal said it best with a recent article titled “Everywhere You Look, the Global Supply Chain is a Mess”. 

Recent supply chain resiliency challenges have been met with rising government initiatives, including President Biden’s executive order in February 2021 to review vulnerabilities in US supplies of critical technologies, metals and pharmaceuticals. The order lays out a medium to long-term process for evaluating US supply issues and opportunities. 

Additionally, these global events have also brought increased attention to National Supply Chain Integrity Month - an annual “campaign designed to raise awareness of supply chain threats and mitigation” launched by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) held every April since 2019.  In its inaugural year, the NCSC partnered with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of Defense’s Center for the Development of Security Excellence (CDSE) to “equip U.S. government and industry stakeholders with information about supply chain threats and and risk mitigation”. 

The NCSC has continued amplifying its efforts since 2019 with content, resources, announcements, and weekly themes throughout April. One of these resources (released earlier this month),, the Report on Mitigating ICT Supply Chain Risks with Qualified Bidder and Manufacturer Lists, sets out to help organizations better conduct supply chain risk management (scrm) when purchasing ICT hardware, software, and service. 

Click here to learn about National Supply Chain Integrity Month, and click here to learn more about Craft.