From the thesis: "During a crisis, emergency managers prioritize limited resources despite access constraints and uncertainty about community needs. This thesis addresses the question: How can the United States improve resource prioritization and adjudication during the initial response to a crisis? Analysis of current policies, practices, and technologies for national-level resource adjudication reveals there is no single policy outlining who decides which American communities get lifesaving and life-sustaining resources first during a national-level crisis. There is also a lack of consensus on how lifesaving and life-sustaining resources should be prioritized across multiple American communities that need help during crisis. While some technology and equipment exist to support last-mile delivery of resources and development of a common operating picture during crisis, there are significant opportunities for investment in technology. This thesis finds emergency managers can adopt U.S. military contested logistics concepts including pre-positioning and force projection, partnerships and unity of effort, transportation networks and supply chain (redundancy and contingency planning), real-time data analytics, and use of autonomous technology and artificial intelligence to improve resource prioritization and broaden distribution strategies when nature is the enemy constraining access to the impacted area."