This summer, President Trump issued an executive order on Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States.
Among other things, the order wants a handful of federal agencies to report on the raw materials that are essential to national security, whether they’re available in the U.S. and what may hinder the country’s ability to get a hold of them if they’re not readily available here.
With me to talk about what that means is Ken Sochats. He’s the director of the Center for National Preparedness at the University of Pittsburgh.
