Have we "outsourced" our ability to protect ourselves?

[PHILIP SCHNEIDER]

Could we arm ourselves in time to respond to an all out attack from a muslim terrorist horde?

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How does outsourcing create a national security crisis?

Can America rebuild after a disaster or terrorist attack without depending on other nations? Do we have the manufacturing capacity to protect our own critical infrastructure?

A new report by the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) says that revitalizing America's manufacturing capacity should be an urgent domestic priority. Co-authored by former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and former Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection Robert B. Stephan, the report suggests that our national infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to disasters such as terrorism, floods, hurricanes, pandemic influenza and cyber disruption.

Why?

It's because we no longer manufacture many key components needed to create everything from bridges and dams to medical supplies and drinking water systems.

From 2000 to 2011, nearly 66,484 U.S. factories closed, and millions of skilled manufacturing workers lost their jobs. We've lost capacity to make drywall, steel, concrete, antibiotics, high-tech circuit boards--the list goes on.

America once led the world in manufacturing. Now, much of our infrastructure needs are dependent on overseas producers. If disaster strikes, will we simply be unprepared?

Our increasing dependence on foreign goods is unwise, unsafe, and unsustainable. We need to fix this--urgently--and we can, by changing the way we think about national security and manufacturing.

Learn how in the new report Preparing for 21st Century Risks: Revitalizing American Manufacturing to Protect, Respond and Recover.

 This important report by Governor Tom Ridge and Robert B. Stephan.

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* Don't forget how the democrat/Republican congress lead by Bill Clinton developed the "FREE TRADE AGREEMENT" in the 80s-90s. 

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