During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) spoke about the creation of a national stockpile for critical minerals.
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00:00Thank you Mr. Chair. Senator Kelly. Thank you Mr. Chair. I do have to point out though that the museum you mentioned which I have been to. It's amazing. It's in Las Vegas. It is. It's in the university though. Yes. It's at the university. It's a great museum. I highly recommend it.
00:14Vice Admiral Paparo or Papano and Mr. Cadenzi. Am I pronouncing that correctly?
00:23Cadenazi. Cadenazi. Thank you. Thank you both for being here. Mr. Cadenazi. I'd like to understand your plan to enhance our critical mineral stockpiles.
00:34So the United States, we import nearly 100% of our cobalt sulfate and cobalt metal requirements despite cobalt playing a critical role in a lot of defense technologies.
00:47Meanwhile, China produces more than 70% of the world's refined cobalt. It's imperative that we decouple and substantially bolster our domestic critical mineral supply chain.
00:58So given the national security importance of these rare minerals such as cobalt, how do you plan on supporting American cobalt and other critical mineral processing companies?
01:11Senator, I appreciate the question and the significance of this issue. I've spent more time looking at the periodic table of elements now since I have like in my chemistry class in high school.
01:19China has clearly weaponized the periodic table of elements. They've made efforts to go ahead and secure access to materials that we require within the defense industrial base.
01:27The Industrial Base Policy Office has made investments totaling $540 million into various mineral capabilities, processing, source materials over the past several years.
01:37If confirmed, I'm eager to understand more about the particular issues associated with cobalt, but also the broader needs for access to strategic and critical minerals
01:47and ensure that we're taking the necessary action to ensure American requirements are met domestically or through allies and partners over time.
01:55And if confirmed, I'm eager to work with you on that subject, Senator.
01:58Do you think we should have our own, build our own stockpile of critical minerals?
02:03Senator, yeah, absolutely. We do have a strategic and critical materials stockpile in place now.
02:08I'm not aware of the scale of that relative to the demand of the industrial base. However, again, if confirmed, I'm eager to work further on this and understand the scale of required investment,
02:18both government and private capital necessary to secure our access to those materials.
02:24Thank you. And Admiral, in your advanced policy questionnaire, when asked what your main priority will be as the principal deputy administrator,
02:33you responded that you would work to maximize the efficiency, effectiveness, capability, and capacity of NNSA.
02:41I want to follow up on this because while I agree on the priority, I'm concerned that recent freezes on civilian hirings
02:50and the firing of probationary employees across the federal government will hamper your ability to accomplish your priorities
02:57and ultimately the agency's mission. Part of that mission is to stockpile nuclear weapons and reduce the overall global nuclear threat.
03:08To accomplish this mission, the agency employs nuclear physicists and other highly technical professionals.
03:14These professionals cannot be mass produced and are incredibly difficult to coax into federal service.
03:21So how do you assess the recent firings and termination letters for NNSA employees and how that will affect your ability to accomplish the agency's mission?
03:34Thank you for the question, Senator. I agree that that is a critical workforce.
03:38And right now, I am not fully apprised about what is the details of what is happening at NNSA.
03:43I only agree about what I see in the news.
03:45But if confirmed, it will be a priority of mine to make sure that I assess the workforce needs,
03:52the resourcing of the number of people and whatever facilities, training, capability they have.
03:57Whatever we need to do to attract, recruit, train, and retain that critical workforce will be a priority of mine.
04:03Do you see that one of your first responsibilities, if confirmed, is to make sure you have the workforce you need?
04:12Thank you, Senator.
04:15Yes, certainly having the critical workforce, if confirmed, is something I will assess and make sure I advocate for the men and women of NNSA
04:21and the national laboratories to make sure they are resourced properly to accomplish this no-fail mission.
04:27And, Admiral, DOD is at an unfortunate intersection here.
04:30We're all legs of our nuclear triad or needing modernization at the same time.
04:35And this modernization requirement has a direct impact on the NNSA.
04:38Additionally, civil service integration is critical for the agency's mission.
04:43The NNSA's partnership with the scientific and academic community is paramount for maintaining our comparative advantage.
04:51How are you planning on managing the modernization projects with infrastructure recapitalization efforts that span civil and federal infrastructure?
05:00And you have three seconds.
05:01Thank you, Senator.
05:04I will certainly, another priority of mine will be to assess the enterprise blueprint going forward
05:08and making sure we look for where the barriers are to driving, getting the enterprise recapitalized,
05:14all the infrastructure recapitalized, look for opportunities for where we can insert modern manufacturing technology
05:20to drive a sense of urgency in our stockpile stewardship programs.
05:24All right.
05:25Thank you, Admiral.