VIEWPOINT: Defense Industrial Base Sector Won’t Surge Without Policy Changes
4/7/2025
By Lt. Col. Sandra R. Thomas
A gaping hole for the Defense Department is that the United States does not currently have the capacity, workforce, capital investments or fortified critical infrastructure to procure, manufacture and store the critical minerals and materials the nation needs militarily and domestically.
The Defense Department is just one customer in the United States. There are organic customers, private and commercial partners that have demands that are not being met as well. There are not enough materials to go around.
In 30 years, the Pentagon went from having a defense industry it considered too large to sustain to one now too small to surge.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2025/4/7/defense-industrial-base-sector-wont-surge-without-policy-changes
