Strategic Materials: –
The United States has come to rely on a number of strategic materials to provide hi-tech consumer goods, advanced defense technologies, and renewable energy capabilities. Yet it remains dependent on imports for a good portion of these materials, either because they do not exist in the U.S. in mineable deposits, or their mining and processing is uneconomic. Current import levels satisfy U.S. demand for these materials, yet access to these imports is highly dependent on geopolitical factors. This survey investigates ways to mitigate the risk of supply disruption.
The Eisenhower School prepares its graduates to lead the strategic institutions and activities associated with the integrated development and resource execution of national security and national defense strategies.
The Eisenhower School at the National Defense University focuses on the resource component of national security, with seminars analyzing the relationship between industry and government from a strategic national security perspective. The Strategic Materials Industry Study was formed to analyze strategic materials - the raw mineral resources required for all aspects of the economy and critical to national defense - and the long-term potential impacts of maintaining secure supplies on the U.S. defense industrial base and on the national economy. The study focused on the U.S. strategic materials industry’s ability to provide the means to support the National Security Strategy’s ends and ways. The academic approach first focused on the science of minerals and the process of transforming these minerals into materials. It then moved to understanding the industry by examining players and drivers, and finally by investigating the political and economic factors affecting the industry. The Strategic Materials Industry Study interacted with leaders from government, industry, and other stakeholders in the National Capital Region, OH, UT, and CO, and traveled to the Republic of Chile to gain an international perspective on the industry. This survey provides near-, medium-, and long-term recommendations for U.S. mineral security, outlining some areas where industry, academia, regulators, lawmakers and investors can collaborate to strengthen national security.
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