'What Are The National Security Consequences?': Moore Asks Air Force Researcher About Chinese Copper

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During a House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, Rep. Tim Moore (R-NC) asked Charles D. Ormsby, Senior Scientific Technical Manager and acting Director, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, about the consequences of China's control on the copper market.

Transcript

00:00I now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Moore, who's also the former

00:05Speaker of the House of the State of North Carolina's House of Representatives.

00:11Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for hosting us here. This has been an incredible visit,

00:16and this is an absolutely amazing facility, an amazing base. I'll tell you, with the continued

00:22consolidation of our domestic industrial base, it seems to me more important than ever to

00:28recognize and support the critical role of our existing industry. Like back home in North

00:32Carolina, for example, we have a lot of companies that contribute greatly to the supply chain when

00:39it comes to national defense. In Shelby, which is actually my home county, we actually have one of

00:45the very few copper smelting and refining facilities in the United States. There's talk about the

00:51availability of rare earth minerals, but you also have to have the capability to produce those,

00:57and so they actually have a facility that produces 100 percent of copper, pure copper from copper

01:02scrap. And the Department of Defense, of course, has identified high purity copper as a strategic

01:07metal essential to our national security. So Dr. Wormsby, with copper being DOD's second most

01:13utilized material, which China, though, currently controls, as I understand, 50 percent of the

01:19global smelting capacity, what are the national security consequences when our domestic smelting

01:24and refining capabilities lack behind those of our global competitors?

01:30Sir, thank you for the question. I think you're hitting on the critical issue, honestly, that

01:36Mr. Frankston brought up early on about the priority for critical chemicals, critical minerals,

01:42critical materials. We are seeing a number of issues exactly like the one that you bring up

01:50in our supply chains, particularly down very far into the supply chains, often at levels below where

02:01our prime contractors would even recognize that there is an issue that they can't get that specific

02:07material that is necessary for our weapon systems. And that's where the priority on the critical

02:15level, chemicals, minerals, materials, really plays into our strategy here and where we're investing,

02:22because it is a big issue for the department. So how would you say, you know, export restrictions

02:27by other nations affect the ability to refine and produce copper in the U.S.?

02:32Sir, it's obviously a major issue for us. And to the point, it's not just about getting the materials

02:43that we need. It's also about being able to process them, right? And that's why we have such a priority

02:49on this investment.

02:50So let's say if another nation were to manipulate global prices, what actions could the DOD take to

02:58safeguard domestic manufacturing?

03:02Sir, thank you for the question. Would you like to take it or would you like me to answer, sir?

03:06So thank you very much. I'm happy to help. So as Dr. Ormsby noted, it's not just at the mine itself.

03:14It's not just at the processing itself. It's across the entire supply chain for critical minerals and

03:19materials. And China has absolutely been manipulating the market, has been placing export controls. And so

03:26that is one of the reasons why we've placed such a high priority. It's why one of the earliest executive

03:31orders from this administration was on critical minerals. It's why we have a presidential determination,

03:37a waiver to be able to use DPA for critical minerals and materials across the entire supply chain so that

03:43we can rebuild or reinforce our domestic capability and capacity. Or in the case of so for the mines

03:52itself and where these minerals are coming out of the earth, geography matters. And some of this isn't

03:56just always not available in the U.S. And so that's why it's leveraging key partners and allies that

04:02we can utilize certainly at the mine level, but then build the processing and the supply chain

04:06capabilities internal to the U.S.

04:09And to that point, even beyond metals, I think it's equally important that we be able to identify,

04:14for example, and be able to source textiles, you know, that you don't think of textiles a lot of

04:19time when you're just talking about national defense, but the ability to have the proper uniforms,

04:24the proper material for our fighting men and women is critical. And of course, the Berry Amendment

04:31requires the DOD to procure textile and clothing products made with nearly 100 percent U.S. content.

04:37It ensures a stable domestic supply chain that will protect us from other nations that seek to

04:42manipulate it. So I guess it's kind of a softball question here, but how does maintaining, how important

04:48is maintaining an independent domestic textile supply chain improve the resiliency in the event

04:54of a near-peer conflict? And either of you want to take it? Thank you for the question. It's

04:58absolutely critical. It's not just in clothing. Those textiles and materials go into our weapon

05:03systems themselves too. So we need to have that domestic capability. And we're very proud in North

05:09Carolina to have a significant production capacity of textiles. So I won't start the fight about being

05:17the home of flight since we're in Ohio right now, but we do have some textiles. I think the

05:24gentleman, we'll go ahead and start our second panel on that.

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