DoD industrial base study ok'd

WASHINGTON - The White House and Defense Department have been planning a major announcement Sept. 13 regarding the presidential-directed defense industrial base report. President Trump was briefed and signed off on the report last week. That president’s go-ahead was to have set the stage for a White House media blitz that was to include economic advisor Peter Navarro. But the president’s role in the release was thrown into question Monday, after the White House announced it was cancelling a Trump’s speech in Jackson, Miss., due to Hurricane Florence’s anticipated landfall in the Carolinas. The speech was set to mention the report, but wasn’t its focus. The report is the result of an executive order signed by Trump last July, which brought together over a dozen working groups from the Pentagon to the departments of Commerce and Homeland Security. The groups focused on different areas, including shipbuilding, ground vehicles, and specific supply chains stretching across the globe, to workforce training and cybersecurity. In August, the Breaking Defense website took a sneak peek at the scope of the report, finding that instead of massive long-term changes to policy, the report will spend more time into putting out smaller more immediate changes aimed at fixing problems and concerns now in the complex supply chains and supplier availability. (Source: Breaking Defense 09/11/18)