The National Security Institute is proud to co-host the 2025 Critical Minerals & National Security Hill Summit alongside PRISM and the American Legion.

This summit convened senior policymakers, industry leaders, and national security experts to address the urgent challenges facing America’s critical mineral supply chains. The discussion focused on immediate steps to expand U.S. access to critical minerals and long-term strategies to strengthen domestic extraction, refining, and manufacturing capacity—resources vital to both economic resilience and national defense.

As part of this year’s program, NSI is hosting a panel titled The New Arms Race: China, Supply Chains, and the Battle for Critical Minerals.

Moderator:

Jamil N. Jaffer – Founder & Executive Director, National Security Institute

Participants:

Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA 1) – Chairman of the House Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces

Mark Montgomery  – Senior Director, FDD’s Center on Cyber & Technology Innovation (CCTI); NSI CTC Distinguished Fellow

Mahnaz Khan – Vice President of Policy for Critical Supply Chains, Silverado Policy Accelerator

This panel explored how the Chinese Communist Party’s dominance in critical mineral supply chains creates acute vulnerabilities for the United States and grants Beijing outsized geopolitical leverage. Leaders from government, industry, and the national security community discussed how private sector innovation, public-private partnerships, and allied cooperation can reduce dependence on adversary-controlled resources and build resilient, secure supply chains for the future.