In 2017, President Trump issued an Executive Order 13817 which drove A Federal Strategy To Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals. This was followed in 2020 with Executive Order 13953 on Addressing the Threat to Domestic Supply Chain From Reliance on Critical Minerals From Foreign Adversaries and Supporting the Domestic Mining and Processing Industries. President Biden expanded on this further with Executive Order 14017 on America’s Supply Chains in 2021, specifically tasking the Secretary of Defense to identify risks in the supply chain for critical minerals and policy recommendations to mitigate these risks. The DoD delivered the Securing Defense-Critical Supply Chains in February of 2022.
In addition to this executive direction, the 2022 National Defense Strategy identified adapting and fortifying the defense ecosystem that includes the defense industrial base and global supply chains. This, in turn, strengthens resilience and adaptability of the force. Building on this, in 2023, the Department of Defense released the first ever National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS) offering a strategic vision to coordinate and prioritize actions to build a modernized defense industrial ecosystem that is fully aligned with the strategic guidance. The National Defense Industrial Strategy Implementation Plan for 2025 (NDIS-IP) highlights six initiatives including production and supply chains, allied and partner industrial collaboration, and capabilities and infrastructure modernization. These are directly in support of initiative #1: Indo-Pacific Deterrence.
The combination of defense industrial base support and attaining the necessary critical minerals required for the DoD capabilities to do the mission has led to the rapid developments with the aim to improve these shortfalls and vulnerabilities. In the context of competition with China, where the majority of the minerals are mined and processed, this event examines the role critical minerals play in the DoD, issues with supply chain, storage and stockpiles, and how we can work with allies and partners to achieve improved resilience.
Registration
Zoom registration is required for this event. Please register in advance here.