\u201cDespite the longstanding prohibition on the use of sensitive materials sourced from geopolitical adversaries, defense contractors have historically under-prioritized domestic production and resilience. My Administration will act to ensure that the statutory requirements of 10 U.S.C. 4872 are strictly observed and result in resilient domestic and allied supply chains,\u201d Trump wrote in the directive.<\/p>\n
He ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to develop policy and implementation guidance within 180 days that would require all prime contractors and subcontractors to help \u201cmap and illuminate\u201d critical supply chains for all acquisitions \u201cthat support, implicate, or relate to United States national security, as determined by the Secretary, from raw materials to the end use products such contractors deliver to the Department of War.\u201d (Department of War is the Trump administration\u2019s preferred name for the Department of Defense.)<\/p>\n
Per the new guidance, military contractors will have to submit to the DOD a complete indentured bill of materials that traces all components, parts, equipment and software back to the origin of raw materials in their supply chains. They\u2019ll also need to implement procedures for conducting risk assessments and \u201cproactively\u201d vetting suppliers and subcontractors, among other requirements.<\/p>\n
The U.S. defense industrial base is enormous and reportedly includes hundreds of thousands of companies. Trump\u2019s edict noted that the Pentagon may use AI to facilitate its supply chain mapping efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department of War shall, in response to the vulnerabilities, bottlenecks, and single points of failure identified by contractor acquisition information, map national security vulnerabilities as they relate to the sourcing of key raw materials or other links in the supply chain, using any tools and technologies to include artificial intelligence to assist in doing so. The Secretary shall account for identified vulnerabilities, bottlenecks, and single points of failure before issuing any waivers under 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(1) or (e), consistent with the requirements of \u2026 this order,\u201d Trump wrote in the edict.<\/p>\n
The president also suggested that new software may be needed to facilitate the testing and qualification of new sources and materials for prime contractors and subcontractors. Within 90 days, the Pentagon chief has been directed to put forth a new strategy along those lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs part of this strategy, the Secretary shall identify and begin steps to rescind any regulations that prevent rapid testing and qualification of sources and materials necessary for defense production,\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n
He noted that the DOD should seek to prevent small businesses, non-traditional defense companies and new entrants to the defense sector from being \u201cunduly burdened\u201d by new regulations associated with the implementation of his EO.<\/p>\n
According to the edict, contractors seeking waivers under 10 U.S.C. 4872(c)(1) or (e) may submit a formal mitigation plan for addressing vulnerabilities in their supply chains.<\/p>\n
Trump suggested that vendors could face severe penalties for misbehavior.<\/p>\n
If Pentagon leadership \u201cdetermines a prime contractor or subcontractor has engaged in fraud or deliberately misled the Federal Government in any part of its mitigation plan, or otherwise knowingly or willfully failed to implement its mitigation plan on the terms set forth and approved by the Secretary or his designee in the mitigation plan, the Secretary shall take all actions and exercise all contractual remedies the Secretary deems appropriate, consistent with applicable law,\u201d the president wrote, adding that the department \u201cmay additionally refer the matter to the Attorney General for investigation and possible prosecution as appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784840613_186_Profile-pic.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\tWritten by Jon Harper
\n\t\t\tJon Harper is Editor-in-Chief of DefenseScoop. He leads an award-winning team of journalists in providing breaking news and in-depth analysis on military technology and the ways in which it is shaping how the Defense Department operates and modernizes. You can also follow him on X: @Jon_Harper_\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new executive order issued by President Donald Trump this week authorizes the Pentagon to use artificial intelligence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,111,6212,2211,625,3164,1599,993],"class_list":["post-117006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-defense-industrial-base","tag-defense-industry","tag-donald-trump","tag-executive-order","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-supply-chain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}