The government’s first in-depth examination in 15 years of domestically bred working dogs is warning that the U.S. remains dangerously short of this key frontline defense against terrorism attacks and for critical security duties, such as bomb sniffing and narcotics interdiction.
The federal government, the U.S. Navy’s Naval Post Graduate School found, “has faced a chronic shortage of domestically bred working dogs qualified for use by both the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. As adversaries, both peer and near-peer, become more adept in circumventing detection systems, the need for working dogs has steadily increased to address security vulnerabilities.”
“The lack of a robust domestic supply of working dogs creates increased supply chain risk and may threaten the ability of departments and agencies that utilize working dogs to maintain readiness if the supply from foreign markets is contested or interrupted for an extended period,” the little-noticed 157-page report concluded.
