U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) and U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) warned of the U.S. defense industrial base’s vulnerabilities with Dr. Seth Jones, CSIS senior vice president and director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) International Security Program.
“Frankly, I think most people thought that we were beyond the days of a massive land war in Europe post-Cold War,” Waltz said during a live event on March 24 called "The U.S. Defense Industrial Base in an Era of Strategic Competition."
The panel discussed Jones’ January report, “Empty Bins in a Wartime Environment: The Challenge to the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.”
The report says that if the U.S. engages in a major conflict, such as with China in the Taiwan Strait, it will deplete stockpiles of long-range, precision-guided munitions in less than one week. It advises the Defense Department and Congress to address defense industrial base vulnerabilities that the Ukraine conflict exposed.
Waltz said they need to untangle the defense supply chain, and that the Defense Logistics Agency shared its concerns. Antimony, once mined extensively in the U.S., is essential to make bullets. U.S. mines have closed for regulatory and environmental reasons.
“Bottom line, the only three places in the world that mines and produces antimony now, which you have to have for a bullet: Tajikistan, Russia and China,” Waltz said during the event.
He remains optimistic because the U.S. has its struggles, but so do the “bad guys.” Relationships he labeled important include Australia, South Korea, Japan and India. European friends and allies will fight for the liberal world order enjoyed since World War II, he said.
“There were very, very few people that would say that we would be in this position today, a year into the war, where the Ukrainians are not only fighting, but they’re winning in many places, and forcing Putin and the Russian Army into a massive war of attrition in Europe," Crow said.
The defense industrial base testified that they lack workers to manufacture weapons, Crow said. He’s proposed allowing interns and apprentices in high school and college programs to start the security pre-clearance process so at the programs’ end, they can start work immediately.
China steals from the U.S. because they can’t innovate as well due to their oppressive society, Crow said. The U.S. should promote freedom, innovation and investments and stay out of its own way, he added.
The U.S. alliance network gives him hope. But they need to be wary of the connection between North Korea, Iran, Russia and China.
“Africa, South America, they are up for grabs right now. And if we don’t make very quick and aggressive engagement and investments in those areas, they will move away from our sphere of influence towards Russia and China, and that will make for a less-prosperous America,” Crow said.
Waltz and Crow served in the U.S. Army Special Forces and are on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to CSIS. Crow is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability. Waltz chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness.
