President Trump signed an executive order on Monday that requires the government to ensure that national security contractors are not dependent on adversaries such as China or using unreliable sources for critical materials in the U.S. supply chain.
The order to scrutinize sourcing arrives six years after the coronavirus pandemic exposed U.S. dependency on foreign suppliers for medical equipment.
More recently, Beijing used export controls to withhold rare earths and other critical minerals from the U.S. that are often used for components in missiles, aircraft and other advanced weapons systems.
If a supply chain runs through an adversary, “that’s a strategic exposure, not an accounting detail,” said Peter Navarro, a White House counselor to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Navarro said the order requires the Department of Defense, in particular, to map out its supply chains and take actions if there are vulnerabilities in how it gets battlefield materials.
Contractors and subcontractors must identify noncompliant sources and lay out steps to remove them from the supply chain, while committing to a strict timeline for replacing the supplies.
“The United States military is the most effective and powerful fighting force on the planet and fields the most advanced weapons systems and technologies,” the order says. “To continue this dominance in an era of renewed great power competition, the United States must secure its supply chains against physical, cyber, and economic subversion.”
Mr. Navarro said for too long, administrations have been willing to look the other way and grant waivers to contractors who cannot find more secure lines of products.
The biggest vulnerabilities, he said, are often found among suppliers below the prime contractors.
“The deeper you get into the tiers, the less likely you know where all the components lie,” Mr. Navarro said. “We’re going to vet the lower tiers much more carefully.”
Mr. Navarro said the order was not just about China, but on Washington’s “dependency on the rest of the world.”
For instance, he said many countries did not share critical medical supplies during the pandemic.
He said the big-picture plan is for the U.S. to emerge as the number-one player in producing key minerals and supplies.
“The order encourages defense contractors to begin qualifying new domestic sources of critical minerals, materials, and components used in designated national security procurements, from domestic and partner nation sources, while also removing regulatory barriers in the qualification process,” the order says.
