The National Security Rationale for Rebuilding Resilient Critical Mineral Supply Chains

Defense official tells the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services about the need for a resilient domestic mining and processing industry.

“The very foundation of our national defense, our economic prosperity and our technological leadership rests upon a reliable supply of essential materials.”

That’s what Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Michael P. Cadenazzi, Jr. emphasized in his testimony to a U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing last month.

Critical minerals are essential raw material inputs for modern technology, energy and economic security whose supply chains are vulnerable to disruption. Cadenazzi testified to their important defense applications.

“The strength of the United States armed forces is built upon a foundation of advanced technology,” he said. “Our fifth-generation aircraft, precision-guided munitions, satellite constellations and next-generation naval vessels all depend on a reliable supply of rare earth elements and minerals including gallium, antimony, germanium and dozens of others.”

Decades of outsourcing and offshoring mining and processing operations have diminished supply chain resilience and independence. According to Cadenazzi, this has created a dependence on imports for critical minerals that constitutes a “strategic vulnerability of the highest order”:

Today, our primary strategic competitor, China, controls the global supply chain for numerous critical minerals. On heavy rare earths alone, China controls 95% of global output, with the United States importing almost 100% of what we use and 90% of that comes from China. This control provides Beijing with the ability to weaponize these supply chains, threatening to disrupt our defense industrial base and compromise military readiness in a crisis. This is not a theoretical risk; it is a clear and present danger to our national security.

We have seen these vulnerabilities in action. Last October China expanded its rare earth export controls, which had crucial implications on critical minerals supply chains and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).

Cadenazzi stated that the department’s commitment to national security has been very vigorous since. He stressed the importance of building resilience across the entire critical mineral supply chain, describing DOD’s four-pillar strategy to achieve that goal: rebuilding domestic production, strengthening supply chains through trusted partners, reducing demand through substitution and recycling and modernizing the National Defense Stockpile – an emergency reserve of strategic and critical minerals.

Concerns surrounding these supply chains have been around for a while. The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) has written about the role of critical minerals in the transition to clean energy and the immediate need to build larger and more diverse supply chains for energy minerals.

The federal government has taken steps to build supply chain resilience. On Feb. 4, the U.S. hosted partners and allies at the 2026 Critical Minerals Ministerial, which reflects a commitment to diversifying America’s supply chains.  The United States Trade Representative is also seeking public comment as it prepares to pursue a “plurilateral” critical mineral trade agreement that would, among other things, set price floors.

Here’s the big takeaway: Critical minerals play a critical role in U.S. national and economic security, and it’s imperative that the U.S. builds resilient, domestic supply chains for them.

You can read Assistant Secretary Cadenazzi’s written report here and watch the whole hearing at this link.