In late 2023, the National Defense Industrial Strategy (NDIS) https://www.businessdefense.gov/docs/ndis/2023-NDIS.pdf was released by the Defense Dept’s Deputy Secretary of Defense.  There is considerable debate on the status of the U.S.  defense industry and its ability to meet domestic manufacturing needs along with supplying foreign allies as varied as Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine with their national defense equipment requirements.    NDIS opens with a discussion of various supply chain matters including China’s rise as a global industrial powerhouse, the impact of COVID on U.S. supply chains, references to recent presidential executive orders on defense industrial policy, and the role played by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/international/the-committee-on-foreign-investment-in-the-united-states-cfius in reviewing domestic transactions for national security risks.

Priorities detailed in NDIS include resilient supply chains, workforce readiness, flexible acquisition, and economic deterrence.  Specific metrics within this categories include  diversifying supplier base and investing in new production methods, engaging allies and partners to expand global defense production and increase supply chain resilience, preparing the workforce for future technology innovation, destigmatizing industrial careers, broadening platform standards and interoperability, increasing access to intellectual property and data rights to enhance acquisition and sustainment, updating industrial mobilization, authorities and planning to ensure preparedness, and strengthening enforcement adversarial ownership and protecting against cyber attacks.  The conclusion contends that the call to action may seem financially expensive but that inaction and failure would be even more expensive.  Additional contemporary and historic sources on U.S. defense industrial base policy are provided by the Defense Dept’s Assistant Secretary of Defense Industrial Base Policy https://www.businessdefense.gov/ which includes annual industrial base capabilities reports to https://permanent.fdlp.gov/lps61174/lps61174.htm and this October 12, 2023 Congressional Research Service report, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47751.

This blog post was submitted by Bert Chapman, Purdue University