![handle is hein.crs/govbfyy0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
FF. ' iE SE .,r - i ,
Updated January 31, 2020
Defense Primer: The National Technology and Industrial Base
The National Technology and Industrial Base (NTIB)
consists of the people and organizations engaged in national
security and dual-use research and development (R&D),
production, maintenance, and related activities within the
United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
The NTIB, as established by 10 U.S.C. §2500, is intended
to support national security objectives of the United States,
including supplying military operations; conducting
advanced R&D and systems development to ensure
technological superiority of the U.S. Armed Forces;
securing reliable sources of critical materials; and
developing industrial preparedness to support operations in
wartime or during a national emergency.
During World War II, shipments of critical wartime
materials to the United States were disrupted. To ensure a
supply of defense articles in future conflicts, Congress and
the executive branch sought to establish a more robust
domestic defense industrial base. Over the next half-
century, evolving U.S. national security objectives led to
new legislation and regulations addressing the defense
industrial base, dual-use critical technologies, and
manufacturing technology. Defense spending, particularly
significant R&D investment, was critical to the
advancement of U.S. military and industrial technology.
Following the end of the Cold War, Congress grappled with
the economic implications of predicted significant cuts in
U.S. defense spending. Responding to the perceived
failure of the Department of Defense to undertake serious
technology and industrial base planning and the need to
maintain a national technology and industrial base capable
of meeting future national security and economic
challenges Congress mandated a more active federal
government role in shaping the U.S. technology and
industrial base through provisions in the FY1993 National
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). These provisions
consolidated existing defense industrial base policies into a
single chapter of the U.S. Code and enacted additional new
policies and requirements, including establishing the NTIB,
formalizing in statute what had been a traditionally close
United States-Canada defense cooperation relationship.
DOD and the Global R&D Landscape
See CRS Report R45403, The Global Researchi and Developmient
Landscape and Im plications for the Department of Defense.
While the U.S. military has historically conceptually used
advanced technological capabilities as a strategic
counterbalance to superior force size and geographic
advantages of potential adversaries, recent trends have
exacerbated concerns regarding the ability of the
Department of Defense (DOD) to maintain this dominance
in the future. The sharp decline in U.S. defense R&D
spending as a share of global R&D spending from 1960 to
2016, together with the rise of the private sector in driving
innovation, signify continuing challenges to DOD's
reliance on technology for battlefield advantage. Analysts
and DOD officials increasingly assess that allies and
potential adversaries alike are achieving technological
parity with and in some instances have already surpassed
certain capabilities of the U.S. military. In the FY2017
NDAA (P.L. 114-328), responding in part to this concern,
Congress expanded the NTIB to include the United
Kingdom and Australia. S.Rept. 114-255 describes global
R&D as shifting abroad, in part to avoid U.S. technology
transfer and export control rules, raising concerns that
innovation may be increasingly conducted overseas with
technology more readily available to potential adversaries
than to the U.S. military because of the lack of civil-
military integration of the [NTIB].
Congress also directed DOD to create a plan that would
promote closer integration of the technology and industrial
bases of all NTIB member countries.
The National Defense Technology and Industrial Base
Council (10 U.S.C. §2502) is responsible for ensuring
interagency cooperation in promoting the NTIB and
providing advice to the President. The council consists of
the Secretaries of Defense, Energy, Commerce, and Labor,
and other officials appointed by the President. While the
U.S. government has a governing body to coordinate
activities across agencies, no such structure with
representation of all NTIB member countries exists.
The Secretary of Defense is also required to develop a
national security strategy for the NTIB based on a
prioritized assessment of risks and challenges to the defense
supply chain (10 U.S.C. §2501); to submit an annual report
to Congress addressing NTIB capabilities, performance,
and vulnerabilities (10 U.S.C. §2504); and to submit a
report on unfunded priorities to address gaps or
vulnerabilities in the NTIB (10 U.S.C. §2504a). Most
recently, the FY2018 Industrial Capabilities report spent
less than one page discussing the NTIB and did not provide
a clear plan to achieve integration.
NTIB countries benefit from certain limited statutory
preferences. Procurement of conventional ammunition can
be restricted to NTIB sources and must be from the NTIB
in a national emergency or when necessary for industrial
mobilization (10 U.S.C. §2304). Fire-resistant rayon fiber
~dN
gogn, q goo
g
, q
aS
' X
11LULANJILiN,](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govbfyy0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most