Home › Topics › Natural Security › Minerals
 

Minerals


Minerals

Reliable access to critical minerals is a matter of both economic and geostrategic importance to the United States. While concern about access to minerals waxes and wanes, it is rising now due to increasing demand, new competitors capturing large market shares and other trends that defy easy prediction. These same trends can interfere with important foreign and defense policy goals and give mineral suppliers easy leverage over the United States and other countries reliant on global supply chains. Despite renewed attention to critical minerals, America’s dependence on these minerals is often misunderstood and miscast in the public debate. Today’s global economy depends on the availability of a wide range of non-fuel minerals that are essential for the manufacture of everything from aircraft to computer screens. Given the importance of these resources, including for defense systems, the U.S. government must be proactive in reducing a range of vulnerabilities of the global supply chain that today are not well understood.

Read the Report: Elements of Security: Mitigating the Risks of U.S. Dependence on Critical Minerals

This report, Elements of Security: Mitigating the Risks of U.S. Dependence on Critical Minerals, explores a range of potential vulnerabilities that stem from dependence on several minerals that the United States will need for defense supply chains and clean energy goals in the decades ahead. The report examines cases of five individual minerals – lithium, gallium, rhenium, tantalum and niobium – and rare earth elements, such as neodymium, samarium and dysprosium, as a sixth group in order to show the complexity of addressing these concerns. As the report recommends, the U.S. government can take several cost-effective, proactive measures to prevent mineral issues from impinging on security, foreign policy and economic growth plans in the years ahead.

Click here to read more about our work on critical minerals.

Related Content

  • Mexican oil, Chinese drilling, Japanese nuclear: Energy trends to watch in 2013
    Type: News Item
    Source: Christian Science Monitor

    February 1, 2013 — In The Christian Science Monitor, CNAS Bacevich Fellow Will Rogers offers five major energy trends that are likely to take shape and play out in international headlines in 2013.

    | more |
  • US energy: What's oil production got to do with national security?
    Type: News Item
    Source: Christian Science Monitor

    November 26, 2012 — Bacevich Fellow Will Rogers writes in the Christian Science Monitor that national security and foreign policy planners can make some reasonable assumptions about what the American energy revolution and oil boom could mean for U.S. interests. 

    | more |
  • Plentiful US Oil Won’t Kill Renewable Energy
    Type: News Item
    Source: TechNewsDaily

    November 16, 2012 — Bacevich Fellow Will Rogers discusses the impact that an American oil boom might have on renewable energy with TechNewsDaily. 

    | more |
  • Why US Oil Dominance Won't Lower Gas Prices
    Type: News Item
    Source: TechNewsDaily

    November 15, 2012 — Bacevich Fellow Will Rogers discusses the IEA's new energy outlook report with TechNewsDaily. 

    | more |
  • America's solar soldiers
    Type: News Item
    Source: Global Post

    November 1, 2012 — Bacevich Fellow Will Rogers discusses the U.S. military's energy efforts with Global Post. 

    | more |
  • CNAS: U.S. Reliance on Rare Earths Carries Risks
    Type: News Item
    Source: Defense News

    June 12, 2012 — CNAS Bacevich Fellow Will Rogers discusses the risks of the United States’ reliance on rare earth minerals with Defense News. 

    | more |
  • Out in the Cold
    Type: News Item
    Source: The Daily

    June 11, 2012 — In an interview with The Daily, CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers discusses the challenges that the United States faces with securing its interests in the Arctic. 

    | more |
  • The Operational and Strategic Rationale Behind the U.S. Military’s Energy Efforts
    Type: News Item
    Source: Consumer Energy Report

    June 7, 2012 — In an op-ed for Consumer Energy Report, CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers explains the linked but distinct efforts by the U.S. military to address its energy challenges. 

    | more |
  • It is all about Mission Effectiveness
    Type: News Item
    Source: National Journal

    May 21, 2012 — CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers writes in the National Journal about how the U.S. military’s investment in biofuels is first and foremost about ensuring that soldiers, sailors and airmen have access to the fuel they need to conduct their operations and protect U.S. interests.

    | more |
  • An Introduction to Choke Points
    Type: News Item
    Source: Consumer Energy Report

    May 21, 2012 — In his first of a series of op-eds for Consumer Energy Report, CNAS Research Associate Will Rogers states that natural resource issues need to be more routinely integrated into the broad range of national security planning documents.

    | more |
  • Cooperation from Strength: The United States, China and the South China Sea
    Cooperation from Strength: The United States, China and the South China Sea
    January 10, 2012 - 9:00am - 11:30am
    The Willard InterContinental Hotel
    Washington, District of Columbia

    At an event on January 10, 2012, from 9:00-11:30 a.m., the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will release a report by CNAS experts Dr. Patrick Cronin and Robert D. Kaplan titled Cooperation from Strength: The United States, China and the South China Sea, which examines the future of U.S. strategy in the South China Sea. The event will feature a keynote address by Admiral Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations. RSVP here or call (202) 457-9427.

    | more |
  • Critical Minerals
    Christine Parthemore Testifies on Critical Minerals Before House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
    September 21, 2011 - 1:00pm - 3:00pm
    House Foreign Affairs Committee
    Washington, District of Columbia

    CNAS Fellow Christine Parthemore testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific in an open hearing on critical minerals.

    | more |
  • Press Briefing: An Insider's Look at President Obama's Asia Trip
    October 29, 2010 - 2:00pm - 3:00pm
    Center for a New American Security
    Washington, District of Columbia

    On October 29, 2010, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will hold an insider's press briefing on what to expect from President Obama's trip to India, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia.

    | more |
  • Sustaining Security: How Natural Resources Influence National Security
    Sustaining Security: How Natural Resources Influence National Security
    September 22, 2010 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm
    2200 Rayburn House Office Building
    Washington, District of Columbia

    On September 22, 2010, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) will hold a congressional luncheon briefing on how natural resources influence national security, featuring a presentation by General Anthony C. "Tony" Zinni (Ret), Former Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command and CNAS Fellow Christine Parthemore.

    | more |
  • Natural Security: Navigating the Future Global Environment
    Natural Security: Navigating the Future Global Environment
    April 28, 2010 - 3:00pm - 7:00pm
    The Willard InterContinental Hotel
    Washington, District of Columbia

    Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change; David Kilcullen,  RADM Philip Hart Cullom, USN, Robert Kaplan, and Christine Parthemore spoke at a CNAS event  addressing the effects of climate change on our national security on Wednesday, April 28. 

    | more |
  • Energy and National Security
    Strategic Resources and Global Security Trends
    November 18, 2009 - 8:30am - 3:45pm
    ,

    The Defense Attachés Association, in consultation with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), hosted their annual conference, Strategic Resources and Global Security Trends, on November 18, 2009, at the Embassy of New Zealand. This event, an effort led in part by Sharon Burke, vice president for Natural Security at CNAS, brought together defense attachés from over 40 countries, as well as U.S. military service personnel and civilian leaders at the Department of Defense, to discuss global security trends, including natural resource scarcity, energy security and climate change. Participants also included representatives from CNA, the New America Foundation, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

    | more |
  • China's Arrival: The Long March to Global Power
    September 24, 2009 - 9:00am - 11:45am
    Willard InterContinental Hotel's Grand Ballroom
    Washington, District of Columbia

    The Center for a New American Security hosted The Honorable James B. Steinberg, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, at an event marking the launch of CNAS' new report, China's Arrival: A Strategic Framework for a Global Relationship. The report examines the ever expanding U.S.-China relationship and proposes a strategy for future engagement.

    | more |
  • Natural Security congressional hearing
    Climate Change and Global Security: Challenges, Threats, and Diplomatic Opportunities
    July 21, 2009 - 2:30pm - 4:00pm
    419 Dirksen Senate Office Building
    Washington, District of Columbia

    Center for a New American Security's Vice President for Natural Security Sharon E. Burke will testify July 21, 2009 at a Senate hearing on climate change and global security. The hearing has been called by Senator John Kerry, D-MA, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The hearing will be streamed live here.

    | more |
  • General David Petraeus
    Striking a Balance: A New American Security
    June 11, 2009 - 7:45am - 7:00pm
    Willard InterContinental Hotel
    Washington, District of Columbia

    Striking a Balance: A New American Security was an all-day CNAS conference highlighting the major foreign policy and national security challenges facing our nation in the critical time ahead.

    | more |
  • Energy Prices and the Defense Budget
    Date: 03/06/2011
    Media: Video

    As rising fuel costs put a strain on the defense budget, CNAS Fellow Christine Parthemore discusses the Pentagon's options in an interview with Defense News TV.

    | more |
  • Natural Resources and National Security
    Date: 12/06/2010
    Media: Video

    CNAS Fellow Christine Parthemore participated in a panel discussion at New York University's Center on Law and Security. The panel, which featured several distinguished speakers, focused on potential threats to national security that could result from the scarcity of natural resources in geopolitically important areas.

    | more |
  • New To Old: Obama Travels Signal Foreign Policy Shift
    New To Old: Obama Travels Signal Foreign Policy Shift
    Date: 11/15/2010
    Media: Audio

    CNAS Senior Fellow Richard Fontaine comments to NPR about the policy interests that attracted President Obama to Asia.

    | more |
  • Natural Security: Navigating the Future Global Environment- Keynote Address
    Date: 04/28/2010
    Media: Video

    The Honorable Carol M. Browner, Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, delivered the keynote address at the recent CNAS event, "Natural Security: Navigating the Future Global Environment."

     

    | more |

There are no people to display.