Though seemingly unimportant things like a $2 rare earth element magnet steering a billion dollar weapons platform may sound inconsequential, when our adversaries cut off our supply leveraging our greatest weakness against us, we won’t have anywhere to turn. With unpredictable international relations, we can no longer ignore our greatest strategic liability. We must act now to establish a coherent rare earth policy and end our dependence on China. When it comes to keeping America safe, we can’t take any chances.

Dean G. Popps was the US Army's Service Acquisition Executive (SAE) and Assistant Secretary for Acquisition Logistics and Technology in both the Bush and Obama administrations. Currently, he is Senior Counsel to FH+H law firm in McLean, Virginia and serves on various corporate and advisory boards.

This first appeared in Scout Warrior here.

Image: Creative Commons.