BENTONVILLE, Arkansas — Walmart marked a milestone Aug. 28 with the ribbon cutting of its brand-new Global Security Operations Center (GSOC) at the company’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville. The unveiling coincided with 20 years since Hurricane Katrina, a disaster that forever shaped the company’s approach to emergency response.

When Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, Walmart’s rapid relief efforts became a turning point in both disaster response and corporate history. Trucks loaded with food, water, and medical supplies were some of the first to arrive in devastated communities. Federal leaders even studied Walmart’s strategy as a model for how to move aid quickly and effectively.

For Walmart leaders, those lessons remain central two decades later.

“It was absolutely amazing to

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