As a field activity of the Defense Logistics Agency, the DNSC stores 24 commodities in 11 locations with an inventory valued at roughly $1.4 billion—down from 1994 when there were 90 commodities in 85 locations.

The time for transformation has come to the DNSC and the likely outcome will be a new organization called the Strategic Materials Security Program. DoD recognizes the need for a program and system that is more relevant in today’s competitive environment that is tailored to the strategic needs of the country and will be more flexible and agile to react when necessary. The demands of a global economy and the lust for vital raw materials by China, Russia, India and Brazil—to name a few—grow daily to meet their own internal growth. There are also valid concerns that some countries with adequate resources could be purchasing strategic raw materials—or the rights to them—for the sole intent of keeping them out of the hands of economic and political competitors.

The undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics established the Department of Defense Strategic Materials Working Group. The group was “tasked to determine whether the National Defense Stockpile should be reconfigured to adapt to current world market conditions to ensure future availability of strategic and critical material for defense needs.” They reported to Congress in April of this year, and their findings were clear: The current system needs to be “reconfigured to ensure future availability of strategic and critical material for defense needs.” Transforming a long-running system is always a challenge, but the focus and intent seem clear to move forward with a reconfigured entity organized for the new world order.