Assessing Strategic and Critical Materials National Security Risks

The United States is increasingly dependent on foreign supplies of strategic and critical materials, and assured sources of supply are vital to U.S. economic security and military readiness. IDA’s ability to assess risks to the supply of these materials has led to robust support to the Department of Defense, including the National Defense Stockpile Program, whose mission is to decrease or preclude a dangerous and costly reliance on foreign sources and single-point-of-failure producers of strategic and critical materials during a major national security emergency. In particular, IDA helps estimate material shortfalls that could occur across the Nation’s entire economy and the Future Years Defense Program, and threaten U.S. economic security and military readiness, using an IDA-developed framework. The Risk Assessment and Mitigation Framework for Strategic Materials (RAMF-SM) is a comprehensive means for estimating total U.S. civilian and military material demand and the sources of their supply, using economic modeling, simulation, and forecasting tools as well as other unique research techniques, including macro and micro approaches.