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Welcome to CorrDefense:
A Letter from Neil G. Thompson, President of NACE International
I am pleased to welcome you to the inaugural issue of CorrDefense, a quarterly online newsletter highlighting the corrosion-control efforts of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), as well as projects and initiatives the agency shares with laboratories, universities, research institutes, and private companies. A collaboration between the DoD and NACE International, CorrDefense is part of a far-reaching DoD initiative to improve corrosion-control efforts and employ best practices to protect the military assets in all of its services.
Today, more than ever, the U.S. armed services are partnering to extend the life cycle of our weapons, equipment, and far-flung military facilities. The 2002 U.S. Federal Highway Administration study, “Corrosion Costs and Preventive Strategies in the United States,” conducted by CC Technologies, Inc. and sponsored by NACE, estimates that the annual cost of corrosion is a staggering $276 billion. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has determined that $10 to $20 billion in direct costs can be attributed to military corrosion. Corrosion practitioners, and the knowledge they spread, are vital to the DoD’s most critical mission—ensuring readiness and safety across the globe using technically sound and cost-effective practices.
In CorrDefense we plan to inform the general public and corrosion-control community about new and recent DoD efforts to share corrosion-prevention technologies and practices. One important result of this sharing is the 2003 Congressional mandate to consolidate efforts across all services. That initiative led to the establishment of the Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which funds corrosion-related projects with a potentially high return-on-investment that benefit more than one military branch. The 2003 mandate has also resulted in a strengthened partnership between the DoD and NACE.
CorrDefense will balance news about people, projects, and activities supported by the DoD Corrosion Office in a readable, general-interest format. Issue content will be archived and available from the DoD’s Corrosion Exchange Web site: www.dodcorrosionexchange.org and linked to the NACE Web site: www.nace.org. The next issue will be published in January 2006.
We believe you will find CorrDefense to be a convenient and informative resource for the DoD’s corrosion-related activities and cutting-edge technologies. We welcome your feedback and look forward to hearing from you.
Neil G. Thompson
President,
NACE International
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