Defense Mineral Policies and Programs of the U.S. Government

Prior to World War I there was no Government stockpiling program. Prior to World War I1 relatively few items were included in Government stockpiling and the start of that war found most objectives for even these few materials far from complete. Profiting from the experience of materials shortages in two wars, Congress in 1946 passed the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act, which stated that it is the policy to decrease and prevent wherever possible a dangerous and costly dependence of the U. S. upon foreign nations for supplies of strategic and critical materials in times of national emergency. However, as of mid-1950 few stockpile objectives had been achieved. Shortly after the start of the Korean War it was obvious that in the absence of adequate stockpiles, the defense program could not be successfully carried out without broad authority to expand supplies of strategic and critical metals and minerals and at the same time to channel limited supplies of these materials to essential defense purposes. Accordingly, in September 1950 Congress passed the Defense Production Act, which provided broad powers for allocating materials and for making arrangements, including financial, to expand supplies.