Tornado Alley (PROG)

[Matrix999]

America's Critical Minerals Dependency: A Clear And Present Danger?

With flash points flaring daily — Russian MIGs buzzing American warplanes, Chinese ships making ports of call to prefabbed islands constructed in the South China Sea, Iran's parliament passing a ballistic missile budget to chants of "Death to America," and of course Kim Jong-Un's vow to reduce American cities to radioactive rubble — it's not hard to conclude, in the signal phrase of the Cold War, that threats to U.S. security constitute "clear and present danger."

It's fair to ask, if this is America's new normal — are our defense forces prepared to deter war, defend U.S. interests and defeat adversaries if necessary?

That's the question that gave rise to a new Presidential Executive Order: "On Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States." By next April, the heads of various cabinet departments must weigh in — DoD, Homeland Security, Commerce, and Labor among others — and report to the President policy recommendations for strengthening the U.S. defense industrial base.

In an op-ed accompanying the Executive Order, White House Economic Advisor Peter Navarro, point man in the defense readiness review, cited the fact that there is only one U.S. company that can repair submarine propellers. But the problem runs far deeper.

Our metals and minerals dependency on foreign sources of supply is great and growing.

As noted by the U.S. Geological Survey, we are 100% import-dependent for 20 metals and minerals, and 50% or more dependent for another 50. As for where the U.S. obtains these metals and minerals it needs but does not mine, China is a leading supplier of 28 of the 50 — up from 21 just a year ago. Russia is a leading supplier for six more.

As a "single point of failure" — Pentagon-speak for choke-points on our defense industrial preparedness — there's nothing quite like a raw material shortage to bring the lengthiest supply chain to a standstill. Take fused aluminum oxide, for example. USGS reports that we depend on foreign supply for "more than 75%" of U.S. annual usage.
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Read the rest at IBD.

And our asshole president is alienating China and Venezuela (among other countries) while forcing congress to flip the bird to Russia by being a treasonous pres.


http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/americas-critical-minerals-dependency-a-clear-and-present-danger/