Defense department plans ‘lessons learned’ review following pandemic

There will be no going back to business as usual in the world when the coronavirus pandemic has finally been overcome, Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday.

Military units routinely hold “after action reviews” following an operation to determine what went right and what went wrong. Gen. Milley said he hopes the Department of Defense can help facilitate an interagency post-COVID 19 review when the federal government can “get on the backside of this, whenever that happens.”

“The military does this frequently. There are going to be lots and lots of lessons learned,” he said.

The Department of Defense has already alerted units that conduct reviews to start laying the groundwork. The pandemic has had a major impact, both domestically and internationally, on topics as varied as the economy, the military and healthcare.

“We’ve got to take a hard look at how we as a military (and) we as a Department of Defense conduct operations in the future, and what we need to do to apply those lessons learned,” Gen. Milley said.

The pandemic has reminded people how many vital strategic assets, such as pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, come from foreign countries.

“A lot of the masks you’re wearing right now are manufactured overseas,” Gen. Milley said. “Maybe we need to manufacture them in the States.”