Defense Industrial Base: Actions Needed to Address Risks Posed by Dependence on Foreign Suppliers , July , 2025
Defense Industrial Base: Actions Needed to Address Risks Posed by Dependence on Foreign Suppliers , July , 2025
From the report: “The Department of Defense (DOD) considers reliance on foreign sources for items it procures a national security risk. DOD estimates that over 200,000 suppliers help produce advanced weapon systems and noncombat goods. The primary procurement database for the federal government, however, provides little visibility into where these goods are manufactured or whether materials and parts suppliers are domestic or foreign.
DOD is pursuing several supply chain visibility efforts designed to help improve its ability to identify risks of what it refers to as “foreign dependency.” DOD has made progress gathering supplier information for major subsystems and components. However, these efforts are uncoordinated and limited in scope and provide little insight into the vast majority of suppliers, including those that provide raw materials and parts.
DOD identified actions it can take to improve its ability to identify and mitigate foreign dependency issues, including
• establishing an office to integrate efforts across DOD; and
• implementing leading commercial practices for supply chain visibility, such as focusing visibility efforts on high-priority programs.
However, DOD has yet to identify resources, priorities, and time frames for completing the integration. Additionally, it has not identified the organization responsible for implementing the leading commercial practices. Without doing so, DOD will be less able to identify and address foreign dependency risks.
One untested approach that DOD officials stated could give DOD more visibility into foreign dependency risks is to contractually require suppliers to provide the information. While some DOD officials assert the information is readily available, others stated this approach may be too costly or that suppliers may not be willing to provide information. Unless DOD tests the costs and challenges of requiring suppliers to provide foreign dependency information, it could be missing an opportunity to address a mounting challenge to the security of its supply chains.”
Authors - Government Accountability Office (GAO)Related Resources
