http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575220112898707130.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond
Oh look the military wants permission to spend even MORE money!
For RISK management.
Just in case we need it in a hurry.
Stock piling for the future
Lol like we can afford that
We can't even afford our now, let alone be saving up for our future.
I wonder what this will do for Wall Street, or the defence contractors
The U.S. military is gearing up to become a more active player in the global scramble for raw materials, as competition from China and other countries raises concerns about the cost and availability of resources deemed vital to national security.
The Defense Department holds in government warehouses a limited number of critical materials—such as cobalt, tin and zinc—worth about $1.6 billion as of late 2008. In the coming weeks, the Pentagon is likely to present a plan for Congress to overhaul its stockpiling program,
.The new plan, dubbed the Strategic Materials Security Program by the Pentagon, would give the military greater power to decide what it stockpiles and how it goes about buying the materials. It would also speed up decision making at a time when military technology evolves rapidly, commodity markets swing widely and countries around the world fight to secure access to natural resources.
"It's a risk-management program," said Paula Stead, who oversees the effort for the Defense National Stockpile Center at Fort Belvoir, in Virginia. The goal is to be able to obtain "a much broader" array of materials in "a much shorter time," she said.
Right now, the military can't add to the stockpile list without congressional approval, a process that can take as long as two years. The military wants to remove that restriction. It also wants the authority to strike long-term deals with companies or allied nations to provide emergency supplies of materials that the military says are irreplaceable for making weapons, jet engines, high-powered magnets and other gear.
The military also wants the latitude to have private companies stockpile materials in "buffer stocks" that the military can tap if other supplies dry up.
