A Strong Domestic Mining Industry Is Essential to National Security

Americans Agree: A Strong Domestic Mining Industry Is Essential to National Security 

Ongoing conflicts overseas have forced an uncomfortable reckoning. As the U.S. military utilizes weaponry and munitions, a critical question looms – can America sustain this level of defense operations? The answer depends on our nation’s reliable access to the minerals that make these modern defense technologies possible.

Minerals Are Essential to Defense

Today, eight in 10 Americans agree that minerals are absolutely essential to U.S. economic and national security. That public consensus reflects reality. Without minerals, we would not have fighter aircraft, jets, ammunition, drones, radar systems, surface-to-air missiles, advanced chips for computing and guidance systems. All of it depends on minerals. From gallium and germanium in semiconductors to cobalt and nickel in advanced alloys, tungsten in munitions and rare earths in radar and guidance systems, virtually every piece of military equipment requires minerals we currently import from other countries.

This is not an abstract vulnerability; it is an acute national security problem playing out in real time. Lack of access to domestic sources of these minerals is the result of policy choices – specifically, decades of regulatory barriers and permitting delays that have made it virtually impossible to develop new domestic mines.

There is historical precedent to address these barriers. At the outbreak of the Korean War, Congress confronted this challenge and responded aggressively by appropriating funds and enacting the Defense Production Act of 1950 – our government must rediscover that decisive approach to minerals policy today and act on two fronts:

1. Reform the permitting process. The Trump administration has taken important steps to streamline mining approvals, but only Congress can enact lasting, binding reforms that remove regulatory barriers and create predictable timelines for new mines. Without this, projects remain stalled and domestic mineral production cannot expand.
2. Reinvest in the National Defense Stockpile, creating a baseline of domestic productive capacity, the irreplaceable foundation for mineral security.

Minerals Security Requires Congressional Action

Conflicts overseas have made it clear that America cannot afford to depend on foreign adversaries for the minerals that keep our military strong. The Trump administration has laid important groundwork through new mining investments, a strategic minerals reserve and efforts to create a minerals trade bloc outside China’s control. But that progress will be incomplete without congressional action.

Modernizing America’s permitting process and reinvesting in the National Defense Stockpile are not luxury expenditures – they are national security imperatives. Congress must act with the urgency this moment demands. Our troops and the stability of our nation depend on it.