The 1990s were defined by peacekeeping missions and one conflict interrupting otherwise nonstop organizational change. The decade began with the Defense Department planning cuts to the services. The United States had just won the Cold War and, with the Soviet Union no longer a threat, security seemed assured. Before any reductions could occur, however, Iraq invaded Kuwait and America deployed half a million service members to the Middle East. DLA earned its first joint unit meritorious award housing, equipping, maintaining, feeding, and fueling this force.
The Defense Department started restructuring as soon as troops returned home. One initiative combined the contract administration offices under DLA. The agency converted its Defense Contract Administration Service into the Defense Contract Management Command as a result. The Defense Department also merged all distribution depots under DLA. Consolidation began October 1990 and was complete March 1992. New offices and depots pushed the agency to an all-time high of 65,500 employees.
DLA did not stay at 65,500 for long. Base Realignment and Closures 1993 and 1995 cut contract administration headquarters, eliminated distribution depots, reduced reutilization offices, and merged units. Mergers included Defense Construction Supply Center combining with Defense Electronics Supply Center to form Defense Supply Center Columbus and Defense Personnel Support Center collocating with Defense Industrial Supply Center, eventually to establish Defense Supply Center Philadelphia.
More reorganization followed. In 1995, responding to a BRAC 1988 decision, DLA moved its headquarters and the Defense Fuel Supply Center from Cameron Station to Fort Belvoir. In 1996, DLA accepted the Defense Automated Printing Service from the Navy. Four years later, it subordinated service centers to staffs. Along with the Defense Logistics Information Service, the Defense Automated Printing Service, now called Document Automation and Production Service, became part of DLA Information Operations.
Reorganization was not all the agency accomplished in the middle and later thirds of the 1990s. Although Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia was DLA’s most-involved peace enforcement of the decade, the agency also supplied Kurds in Operation Provide Comfort, provided humanitarian assistance to Somalis in Operation Restore Hope, and helped Haiti restore constitutional order in Operation Uphold Democracy. In the post Goldwater-Nichols era, these missions entailed more than sending supplies: they involved deploying teams with experts from every major functional area of the agency.