After searing experience fighting to get critical supplies to Michigan frontline workers, Slotkin stands up new task force to ensure DoD not reliant on adversaries for critical supplies
WASHINGTON, DC –– U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) will lead the bipartisan Defense Critical Supply Chain Task Force alongside Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher (WI-08) within the House Armed Services Committee to help make sure the Department of Defense is not reliant on adversaries for the critical supplies it needs to keep Americans safe. The three-month task force aims to accomplish three goals: to take full stock of the critical supplies the Department of Defense relies on to support the military and national security; identify the vulnerabilities in those supply chains; and develop legislation to address those vulnerabilities, including leveraging U.S. and allied manufacturing capacity for those critical items.
Since the early days of the pandemic, Slotkin has championed the need to bring more manufacturing back to America, particularly of critical supplies, as a matter of national security. One year ago, as the pandemic took hold in Michigan, Slotkin spent weeks working with district health care providers to find sources for masks, gloves, and other desperately needed medical supplies as cases surged. This led her to introduce the Strengthening America's Strategic National Stockpile Act, a package aimed at reducing dependence on foreign manufacturers, which passed the House with unanimous bipartisan support in the last Congress. In her first letter to the Biden Administration, Slotkin urged the new administration to toughen up "Buy American" requirements for the federal government.
Slotkin and Gallagher are leading the Defense Critical Supply Chain Task Force in the aftermath of shocks to commercial and Department of Defense supply chains brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the task force include Reps. Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Don Bacon (NE-02), Michael Waltz (FL-06), Stephanie Bice (OK-05).
The goal of this Task Force is not to produce a report, but to devise legislative proposals to address these issues that could be included in the FY22 National Defense Authorization Act.
"The experience we went through in the early days of the pandemic was searing. Back in April and May, I was getting on the phone with middlemen in China to try to get masks, gloves, and other supplies for our frontline workers –– and it impressed upon me the importance of identifying which supply chains have a national security importance," said Slotkin. "We can't be left vulnerable like that again."
"On the high end of the scale, there are a ton of technology-related materials like chips and battery parts, that if we rely too heavily on adversaries to produce, will continue to leave both the commercial sector and the DoD vulnerable to supply shocks," Slotkin continued. "In this task force, we'll be focused on identifying the list of critical supplies the Department needs, the vulnerabilities and chokepoints in those supply chains, and recommending legislation for this year's NDAA. Instead of producing a long report, we're focused on drafting legislation for the things that we suggest."
"Over the past year, we've experienced firsthand how supply chain vulnerabilities have undermined our national security and led to tragic and unnecessary loss of life. Our defense industrial base faces challenges of a similar scale and we must act with a sense of urgency to strengthen supply chains critical to our national defense," said Rep. Gallagher. "It is long past time to reduce our supply chain dependency on adversaries like China while expanding partnerships with our allies and bringing jobs back home. I am proud to join Rep. Slotkin in leading this important bipartisan effort and look forward to hitting the ground running."
Purpose: This three-month task force will run through June 1, 2021, and focus on three key questions:
(1) Identify an expanded list of critical supplies that the Department depends on for daily operations and crisis response: What are the highest priority materials and capabilities that allow the Department to execute its missions? What are the industries critical to national security, including dual-use items such as semiconductors, where the United States is vulnerable to supply chain shocks or choke points?
(2) Identify vulnerabilities in DoD supply chains for critical national security materials and manufacturing: What are the choke points in the supply chains for these items, including geographic clustering of key suppliers/raw materials and what is the U.S. and U.S. territories' capacity in those areas? What regional and geographic diversity currently exists in these domestic supply chains, including the risks at the various tiers of supply chains and the IT systems that manage them?
(3) Develop legislative steps Congress and others can take to build resilience against future shocks to the defense industrial base in the near term: How can we prepare now for unanticipated future shocks? What needs to be done now so the Department is prepared to both gracefully shift to critical operations in the face of crisis and recover robustly and quickly? What are the priority R&D investments so the U.S. can lead in game-changing technologies, many of which rely on those items (i.e., AI, batteries, etc.)?
Original source can be found here.
