Re:Supply Chain Security Is the Whole Enchilada, but Who’s W...
by AnthonyMouse on Saturday October 06, 2018 @05:29PM
(#18157377)
> What abou Italy? Honduras? Liechtenstein? Nigeria? Should they all produce their own hardware for national security concerns?
There are two paths to making this work. One is domestic production, which as you say might work for the United States, but the other is supply diversity. If you don't have a local industry but there is one in Canada, Germany and South Korea, and those countries are your allies, you're probably fine. The issue comes when you're entirely reliant on a single country (e.g. China), especially when that country is undemocratic/authoritarian. Because that makes it too easy for them to betray you without you being able to do anything about it, significantly increasing the probability that they actually do it.
There are two paths to making this work. One is domestic production, which as you say might work for the United States, but the other is supply diversity. If you don't have a local industry but there is one in Canada, Germany and South Korea, and those countries are your allies, you're probably fine. The issue comes when you're entirely reliant on a single country (e.g. China), especially when that country is undemocratic/authoritarian. Because that makes it too easy for them to betray you without you being able to do anything about it, significantly increasing the probability that they actually do it.