As Washington and Beijing extend a trade truce built on China’s control of critical minerals, SAFE’s Energy Security Leadership Council calls on conferees to address strategic vulnerabilities
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC) of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) has sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees urging that a slate of energy and defense supply chain provisions from both chambers’ FY 2027 National Defense Authorization Acts be included in the final bill agreement.
The letter, signed by 22 retired four-star Admirals and Generals, and 16 business leaders including current and former CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, is addressed to Chairmen Roger Wicker and Mike Rogers, and Ranking Members Jack Reed and Adam Smith.
The letter arrives days after the United States and China agreed to extend their trade truce to January 10, 2027, keeping in place Beijing’s suspension of export restrictions on rare earths and other controlled materials, including gallium, germanium, and antimony. The extension underscores the fact that America’s mineral dependencies on the CCP undermine its negotiating position in the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship. The NDAA is a powerful lever for Congress to ensure that the defense industrial base’s buying power is leveraged to advance secure supply chains.
The ESLC’s recommendations fall under four themes:
- Sourcing restrictions: Public dollars should never flow to companies owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. The letter supports provisions preventing the Department of War (DoW) from purchasing solar cells, modules, and inverters from foreign entities of concern, along with a report requiring the DoW to justify the use of waivers when non-Chinese supply exists, including for samarium.
- Traceability: Sourcing rules are only as strong as the ability to enforce them. The ESLC supports a Defense Logistics Agency pilot to trace materials in the National Defense Stockpile, bringing transparency to supply chains that Chinese entities keep opaque by design.
- Domestic industrial capacity. The United States is 100 percent import-reliant for defense-grade, high-purity aluminum. The letter supports requiring DoW to share its 2025 Primary Aluminum Sector Industrial Base Assessment and the Defense Logistics Agency’s Aluminum War Game with Congress, and using Defense Production Act Title III authorities to train the mining, processing, and refining workforce that domestic projects need.
- Technological innovation. China’s dominance rests on technology and scale as much as geology. The letter backs a package of provisions to onshore recycling, and to study flows of valuable scrap materials.
The letter also supports codifying DoW’s Economic Defense Unit to counter adversary pressure on the defense industrial base, secure U.S. access to critical materials, and maximize American economic leverage. The provision speaks directly to the bilateral dynamic: the United States needs a standing capability to compete economically, not a series of short-term reprieves.
The full letter and appendix of recommended provisions are available here.
Earlier this fall, the ESLC also sent a letter urging Congress to attach the bipartisan Connected Vehicle Security Act to the NDAA or other appropriate must-pass legislation. The full letter is available here.
###
About SAFE
SAFE advances the economic and national security of the United States and its allies by developing and advocating for policies that reduce strategic vulnerabilities and strengthen capabilities across energy, critical resources, technology, and industrial production. Learn more at Secureenergy.org.
