President Donald Trump, in a June 11 presidential memo published in the Federal Register yesterday, made a mockery of Pete Hegseth’s repeated claims that there are no munitions shortages by saying that, indeed, there are. “I hereby find that conditions exist which may pose a direct threat to the national defense or its preparedness programs,” Trump said. “In particular, systemic constraints in the munitions industrial base, including limited production capacity, fragile supply chains, long-lead dependencies, and related production bottlenecks, may impair the ability of the United States to produce, sustain, and expand the availability of munitions, missiles, and equipment required for the national defense.”
“I hereby delegate to the Secretary of War the authority under sections 708(c)(1) and 708(d) of the Act to provide for the making of voluntary agreements and plans of action to help provide for the national defense. The Secretary of War’s authority is subject to fulfilling the consultation and approval requirement of section 708(c)(2) of the Act.”
Section 708 gives the President the authority to consult with leaders of industry “with a view to encouraging the making by such persons with the approval by the President of voluntary agreements and programs to further the objectives of this Act,” and to appoint a representative to carry out those consultations.
