The supply chain is getting greener and discussions about sustainability are cropping up in more calls and conferences than ever before. What this means for you is that the "green-ness" of your supply chain will soon be a deciding factor for your manufacturer and shipper partners as well as your other customers.

Never mind those expert consultancies and handsomely compensated analysts who purport to tell us the future of supply-chain management. The real answers can be found in an event that's held once a year in the heart of Silicon Valley. With dinner thrown in as well.

A position paper from the Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG) says that effective air cargo screening technologies are an essential part of a multi-layered, risk- and threat-based approach to air cargo security.

The U.S. Department of Defense has issued an interim rule allowing the agency to consider supply chain risk in certain procurements related to national security systems, citing an "urgent need" to protect such programs from sabotage.