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Congressional Research Servkce
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Updated February 3, 2021
Defense Primer: The National Technology and Industrial Base
What is the NTIB?
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.
Establishing the NTIB
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 Research and Development
Landscape and Implications for the Department of Defense.
Expanding the NT IB
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, 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.
How Does the NTIB Operate?
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 take certain
steps, such as establishing 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)
and submitting an annual report to Congress addressing
NTIB capabilities, performance, and vulnerabilities (10
U.S.C. §2504).
Statutory Benefits of NTIB Membership
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
in uniforms may only be procured from a non-NTIB
member if NTIB sources are not available (10 U.S.C.
§2533a note). NTIB manufacturers are generally exempt
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