President Donald Trump signed Friday an executive order for a cross-government review of U.S. manufacturers’ capacity to support the defense industrial base and the availability of skilled labor to maintain the operations of factories, Nextgov reported Friday.
Peter Navarro, a presidential adviser and director of the White House’s office of trade and manufacturing policy, said Friday in a press briefing that the Defense Department will spearhead the review in collaboration with the departments of Homeland Security, Energy, Commerce and other federal agencies.
The Commerce Department and DHS, for instance, could launch an investigation on “dual use†limitations on exports and imports and their impact on defense readiness under the executive order, Navarro noted.
The EO would require DoD to submit to the president an unclassified report that assesses civilian and military materiel and other products that are critical to national security as well as determines contingencies that may affect the supply chains of goods, according to a White House news release.
The report with a classified annex should be provided within 270 days.
The order also aims to assess gaps in domestic production capabilities related to national security and the defense industrial base’s capacity to undergo modernization in support of future needs.