On The Limits of Test in Assuring the Integrity of Products

Testing is being employed by DOD as one defense against selected supply chain exploitations with policy and practice calling for testing to detect counterfeit and tampering of parts. The limits of testing for reducing these risks is explored, and the results show that testing works best for simple low quality parts, but poorly for complex high quality parts. This suggests that testing will be less effective as a primary means of managing the risks of counterfeit introduction or tampering with parts when compared to other means such as using trusted suppliers.