Cybersecurity Ignorance Is Dangerous | China’s Growing Nuclear Threat | Future of Appalachian Rare Earth Elements, and more

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines such attacks as deliberately aiming a vehicle intending to inflict fatal injuries or cause property damage. “This tactical evolution is a microcosm of the broader tectonic shifts in today’s terrorism threats,” said Mia Bloom, author of Dying to Kill, in a recent piece.

Former Leader of Neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Group Sentenced for Swatting  (Rachel Weiner, Washington Post)
A former leader in a violent neo-Nazi group was sentenced Tuesday to 41 months in prison for harassing journalists who reported on his activities and others. John Cameron Denton, 27, was the Texas leader of the Atomwaffen Division when he took part in what Assistant U.S. Attorney Carina Cuellar called “the most widespread swatting conspiracy in the country” known to federal law enforcement. Swatting is the practice of making fake bomb and hostage threats to provoke an overwhelming law enforcement response. “The fear and anxiety you created in all these victims . . . will remain in their memory for far too long,”U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady said in federal court in Alexandria. “All for you and this group to get your jollies off? It’s incomprehensible.” Atomwaffen, which calls for acts of random violence in hopes of starting a race war, was founded in 2015 on the neo-Nazi website Iron March and has been linked to several killings. One founder is now facing trial in Florida where he is accused of murdering his two roommates; the other is in prison for possession of explosives. While much of its activity occurred online, members also met for “hate camps” and traveled abroad to meet like-minded extremists in Europe.

Minnesota Man Is Second Boogaloo Member to Plead to Federal Terror Charges  (Stephen Montemayor, Star Tribune)
A second member of the antigovernment Boogaloo Bois extremist group pleaded guilty to Minnesota terrorism charges Tuesday, telling a judge that the group sought to leverage unrest after George Floyd’s police killing to raise money for its movement. Michael Robert Solomon, 31, of New Brighton, admitted Tuesday to selling silencers and other firearm components last year to people be believed were members of the Hamas terror group but who turned out to be FBI informants. “Honestly, the money was if nothing else more just to keep prepping, to purchase more firearms, more ammunition, more body armor just to prepare for what … we always called the ‘[expletive] hitting the fan,’ “ Solomon told U.S. District Judge Michael Davis in court. Solomon entered his plea in person in a St. Paul federal courtroom Tuesday. He is one of four men charged since last September to have been identified as members of the Boogaloo Bois, an armed anti-government group that rose in prominence amid the 2020 protests over COVID-19 shutdowns and police brutality. Solomon’s guilty plea comes with the possibility of a 20-year sentence. It follows a December plea from co-defendant Benjamin Ryan Teeter, a 22-year-old who traveled from North Carolina in response to a Facebook post from Solomon calling for fellow Boogaloo Bois members to join him in participating in the protests after Floyd’s death.

Antifa Arsonist Gets Four Years in Prison for Burning Minneapolis Police Station  (Opindia)
An Antifa rioter, who threw a Molotov cocktail inside a Minneapolis police station in an attempt to burn it down, has now been convicted to four years in prison. Dylan Shakespeare Robinson, aged 23, was also ordered to pay $12 million in restitution for the damage caused to the Minneapolis police station during rioting which occurred on May 28, 2020. The riot was one of the many riots and protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.

Biden Team May Partner with Private Firms to Monitor Extremist Chatter Online  (Zachary Cohen and Katie Bo Williams, CNN)
The Biden administration is considering using outside firms to track extremist chatter by Americans online, an effort that would expand the government’s ability to gather intelligence but could draw criticism over surveillance of US citizens. The Department of Homeland Security is limited in how it can monitor citizens online without justification and is banned from activities like assuming false identities to gain access to private messaging apps used by extremist groups such as the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers. Instead, federal authorities can only browse through unprotected information on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and other open online platforms. A source familiar with the effort said it is not about decrypting data but rather using outside entities who can legally access these private groups to gather large amounts of information that could help DHS identify key narratives as they emerge. The plan being discussed inside DHS, according to multiple sources, would, in effect, allow the department to circumvent those limits. In response to CNN’s story, DHS said it “is not partnering with private firms to surveil suspected domestic terrorists online” and “it is blatantly false” to suggest that the department is using outside firms to circumvent its legal limits.

From Memes to Race War: How Extremists Use Popular Culture to Lure Recruits  (Marc Fisher, Washington Post)
The first images of “The Last Battle” seem designed to rile people on the conservative side of the culture wars: public nudity, strippers, children dressed in drag — symbols of a society supposedly in a moral free fall. Then the online video pivots to more extreme material: quick-cut scenes of attacks on White people, bogus allegations of election fraud and a parade of pictures purporting to show “the Jewish Communist takeover.” The six-minute video, distributed on gaming platforms and social media, rapidly reveals itself as a visually arresting propaganda piece — a recruiting tool for far-right extremists that draws viewers in with “They’re coming for your guns” and “They’re opening your borders” and then hits them with “They’re humiliating your race” and “Defend your race.” The far-right groups that blossomed during Donald Trump’s presidency — including white supremacists, self-styled militias and purveyors of anti-government conspiracy theories — have created enduring communities by soft-pedaling their political goals and focusing on entertaining potential recruits with the tools of pop culture, according to current and former members of the groups and those who study the new extremism.

Biden Administration Releases Trump-Era Deadly Force Rules for Terrorist Suspects Abroad  (Caroline Kelly, CNN)
The Biden administration disclosed Trump-era rules on Friday regulating the use of deadly force against terrorism suspects abroad, releasing them with several redacted lines to the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Times as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit after the Trump administration refused to make them public. The rules, which President Joe Biden suspended on his first day in office while his administration began reviewing them, according to the Times, have come under criticism for making exceptions to standards about how and where “direct action” attacks were allowed outside war zones. “We appreciate this release, which confirms our fear that President Trump stripped down even the minimal safeguards President Obama established in his rules for lethal strikes outside recognized conflicts,” Brett Max Kaufman, senior staff attorney for the ACLU, said in a statement Saturday. The rules, titled “Principles, Standards, and Procedures for U.S. Direct Action Against Terrorist Targets,” allow for US direct action against lawfully targeted terrorists “whose removal, either independently or as part of a broader campaign, is determined to be reasonably necessary to U.S. efforts to address the threat posed by the terrorist group.

British Government Bans Atomwaffen Division as Criminal Terrorist Organization  (Ben Makuch, Vice)
The British government has officially banned Atomwaffen Division and its successor organization, National Socialist Order (NSO), as criminal terrorist groups, meaning membership in either in the U.K. now carries a potential 10-year prison sentence.  On Monday, Home Secretary Priti Pratel issued a motion for Parliament to “proscribe” Atomwaffen Division—a mostly U.S. based neo-Nazi terror group that disbanded last year and was connected to five stateside murders—as an “outlaw” group. Today, it was ratified by Parliament. “Vile and racist white supremacist groups like this exist to spread hate, sow division and advocate the use of violence to further their sick ideologies,” Patel said in a statement. In response to the ban, a leader within the NSO who previously headed an Atomwaffen cell told VICE World News that he wasn’t shocked by the criminal proscription of the group, and questioned why the disbanded organization was also named. “We’re not at all surprised over it. The U.K. government consistently falls all over itself to ban any dissidents that have a real public image,” he said, claiming that the group is exclusively American. “NSO’s program even states that we are a U.S.-only organization, the only reason for them to ban us is to virtue signal.

Met Dismisses Police Officer Who Belonged to Banned Neo-Nazi Terror Group  (Lucy Campbell, Guardian)
A man who became the first British police officer convicted of belonging to a neo-Nazi terrorist organisation has been dismissed from the Metropolitan police without notice. Ben Hannam was found guilty on 1 April of membership of the banned rightwing extremist group National Action (NA) following a trial at the Old Bailey. At a gross misconduct hearing on Wednesday, his behaviour was found to amount to a breach of the standards of professional behaviour, the Met said. The Met assistant commissioner, Helen Ball, who chaired the hearing, said his actions had “without question harmed public confidence in, and the reputation of” the force. She said: “In terms of culpability, PC Hannam has knowingly and intentionally remained a member of a proscribed organisation, made false statements, retained possession of terrorism-related documents and a prohibited image of a child. He had at every stage the option not to embark on this course of conduct and to move away from it and did not do so. “In addition, PC Hannam has been convicted of six separate criminal offences. It is entirely unacceptable for police officers who are responsible for enforcing the law to break the law themselves. He was wholly responsible for his actions and his culpability is high.

Far-Right Terror Suspects Arrested in Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Wales  (Clea Skopeliti, Guardian)
Police have arrested five people in areas across West Yorkshire, Wiltshire and north Wales as part of a counter-terrorism operation. The “pre-planned” arrests were part of an investigation into far-right terrorism led by Counter Terrorism Policing North East, police said. Two men, aged 29 and 30, and a 28-year-old woman were arrested at an address in Keighley on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. A 16-year-old boy in Swindon and a 28-year-old man in Anglesey were also arrested on suspicion of the same offence. An ordnance-disposal unit was alerted after officers discovered suspicious material at one of the addresses in Keighley, West Yorkshire police said in a statement. The unit will provide specialist advice and organise the safe removal of the items if required. Some residents have been evacuated while the material is examined and a cordon has been put in place around the site. Multiple properties are being searched in connection with the arrests. The five suspects are being questioned at a police station in West Yorkshire.

Canadian Chapter of the Proud Boys, Designated a Terrorist Group by The Government, Says It Has ‘Dissolved’  (Amanda Coletta, Washington Post)
Nearly three months after Canada declared the Proud Boys a terrorist entity, the Canadian chapter of the militant far-right group claims it has “officially dissolved.” But analysts warned that the organization could still rebrand, and its radicalized members could find new homes. Members of the Proud Boys, founded in the United States by a Canadian, joined the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol in January. In a statement posted on social media on Sunday, the group said “there is officially no longer any Proud Boys in Canada.” It cited the financial difficulties of mounting a legal challenge to overturn the government’s terrorist entity designation. The designation in February did not make it illegal to belong to the group, but it did carry financial and legal consequences. Authorities can add members to the no-fly list. Banks can freeze their assets, and police can seize their property. It’s a crime to knowingly provide assistance to the group, including by purchasing merchandise. “The truth is we were never terrorists or a white supremacy group,” the Canadian chapter said in its statement, posted to the main Proud Boys channel on the Telegram messaging app. “As a fraternity of men we had thought of pursuing the case legally but we have no financial support, given we are not funded by the rich.

No ‘Boogeyman’: Why the Bin Laden Raid Might be the Last Unifying Moment for U.S. Foreign Policy  (Jacqueline Feldscher, Defense One)
The changing threat facing the country and a growing political divide means there’s no common enemy around which Americans can unite.

Ten Years after Bin Laden, We Still Need Better Intelligence Sharing  (Robert P. Ashley, Defense One)
Leaders should still apply the lessons we learned, when contending with China and Russia.

More picks

How China Turned a Prize-Winning iPhone Hack against the Uyghurs  (by Patrick Howell O’Neill, MIT Technology Review)
An attack that targeted Apple devices was used to spy on China’s Muslim minority—and US officials claim it was developed at the country’s top hacking competition.

A Health-Data Ecosystem to Protect against Public-Health Threats  (Sheri Lewis, Alan Ravitz, Aaron Katz, and John Piorkowski, Brookings)
To better prepare for the next pandemic, the health community needs to strengthen its ability to leverage data in managing the health of individuals and populations. We needed this ability before the pandemic; it became imperative during the pandemic; and we assuredly need it after this pandemic—to better protect lives during the next one. The health industry should apply systems engineering principles and best practices to the development of a comprehensive data ecosystem—a holistic, requirements-driven, risk-based approach in contrast to today’s reductionist and siloed approach to health data. The goal is to establish a health-data ecosystem that continuously and efficiently collects and distributes timely, accurate, and comprehensive data among interdependent entities spanning all levels of society, leaving the world better prepared to tackle the next health crisis, a group of researchers from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory write.

Hello, This Is Leonid Volkov  (Meduza)
Using deepfake video and posing as Navalny’s right-hand man, Russian pranksters fool Latvian politicians and journalists into invitation and TV.

NY AG Finds Nearly 82% of Net Neutrality Comments to the FCC Were Fake  (Issie Lapowsky, Protocol)
In a new report, New York Attorney General Letitia James found that of the more than 22 million public comments the Federal Communications Commission received in 2017 regarding the repeal of net neutrality protections, a whopping 18 million were fake. Millions of those comments, the report says, were funded by the broadband industry.
“The OAG found that millions of fake comments were submitted through a secret campaign, funded by the country’s largest broadband companies, to manufacture support for the repeal of existing net neutrality rules using lead generators,” the report says. “And millions more were submitted by a 19- year old college student using made-up identities.”
The investigators behind the report found that nearly 80% of the comments funded by the broadband industry were collected by lead generation companies that offered consumers various rewards in exchange for their information. “Marketing offers varied widely, and included everything from discounted children’s movies to free trials of male enhancement products,” the report reads. The broadband industry would then run additional solicitations alongside those promotions, asking consumers to join the anti-net neutrality campaign, according to the report.

Intrusion Truth Details Work of Suspected Chinese Hackers Who Are Under Indictment in U.S.  (Sean Lyngaas, Cyberscoop)
Intrusion Truth, a mysterious group known for exposing suspected Chinese cyber-espionage operations, on Thursday published a new investigation that traced front companies allegedly used by two Chinese men whom a U.S. grand jury indicted last year.
The findings shed light on a dynamic that U.S. law enforcement officials say is increasingly common: foreign intelligence services’ use of front companies to try to conceal their hacking operations. The details also come at a time when Biden administration officials are dealing with the fallout of another suspected Chinese hacking campaign in which attackers leveraged widely used Microsoft software.

Machine-Learning Project Takes Aim at Disinformation  (MIT Technology Review)
Building a better internet means stopping propaganda and fake news before it spreads, says language processing expert Preslav Nakov. The first step is verifying and trusting news sources.

U.S. Cyber Command Gives-Up on Terror Organizations Like Islamic State & Shifts Focus on China  (Eurasian)
The US Cyber Command will be diverting its counterterror resources used against the Islamic State to the Indo-Pacific region, probably to thwart Chinese cyber threats. According to the military portal C4ISRNET, the Joint Task Force (JTF) of the Cyber Command was specifically created in 2016 to fight the Islamic State online. However, in view of the rising cyber threats, which US agencies have linked to China, the JTF would now focus on the Indo-Pacific region. In a written statement submitted to the US Congress in March, General Paul M. Nakasone, Commander of United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), said: “Counterterrorism operations in cyberspace are continuous, helping to protect the force and prosecute targets in Afghanistan and other regions on behalf of USCENTCOM [Central Command] and USSOCOM [Special Operations Command].” “We are also shifting JTF-Ares’ focus (though not all of its missions) from counterterrorism toward heightened support to great power competition, particularly in USINDOPACOM’s [Indo-Pacific Command’s] area of responsibility.” Although the primary objective of the JTF was to lead the joint cyber effort, the US Cyber Command’s digital offensive against the militant group has undergone various changes.

DHS to Suspend New Fingerprint Requirement for Spouses of H-1B Visa Holders  (Michelle Hackman, Wall Street Journal)
Delays due to visa-processing change, compounded by pandemic, left many, mostly professional Indian women, out of work.

CISA: Patch Issued for Critical Pulse Secure VPN Flaw Under Active Attack  (Jessica Davis, Health IT Security)
Ivanti released a patch for a critical zero-day authentication bypass flaw found in its Pulse Secure VPN, which CISA previously warned was under active attack.

143 US Lawmakers Support Doubling Religious Institution Security Grants  (Omri Nahmias, Jerusalem Post)
Several Jewish organizations advocated in the past two years to increase the project’s funding in light of antisemitic attacks in several states across the US.

Cyberspace Solarium Commissioners Concerned Over Security of Nation’s Water Supply  (Mariam Baksh, Nextgov)
Having succeeded in passing a number of their recommendations through the last National Defense Authorization Act, the commissioners plan to embrace an oversight role as they push for more new laws.

The Real Obstacle to a New Normal? Anti-Vaxxer Parents.  (David Axe, Daily Beast)
Vaccine skeptics have marred the rollout of safe and effective shots from the jump. Now things may get truly ugly.

Biden Administration Likely Retaining Trump Doctrine on Cybersecurity in Space  (Mariam Baksh, Nextgov)
Vice President Kamala Harris is prioritizing cybersecurity as chair of the National Space Council, an official said.

Cybersecurity Ignorance Is Dangerous  (Tarah Wheeler, Foreign Policy)
A new book gets the policy recommendations right while making technical errors that could undermine trust in its conclusions.

Germany’s Anti-Vaccination History Is Riddled with Anti-Semitism  (Edna Bonhomme, The Atlantic)
Jewish people were blamed for spreading disease, and considered expendable victims.

Homeland Security to Repair Damage Created by Border Wall  (Elliot Spagat, Associated Press / PBS)
The Biden administration said Friday that it will begin work to address the risks of flooding and soil erosion from unfinished sections of the wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and will cancel military-funded contracts as it shuts down one of President Donald Trump’s signature domestic projects.

An Ambitious Plan to Tackle Ransomware Faces Long Odds  (Lily Hay Newman, ArsTechnica)
Heavyweight task force proposes framework to tackle a major cybersecurity problem.

Biden Has the Power to Defuse Central American Migrant Crisis  (Bill Ong Hing, Mercury News)
President Joe Biden’s about-face on the number of refugees he will allow to resettle in the U.S. this year is an opportunity for him to also address the seemingly unmanageable border situation and the violence in Central America.

Five U.S. Agencies May Have Been Hacked Through Ivanti Flaws  (Alyza Sebenius, Bloomberg / DataCetner News)
The U.S. hasn’t attributed the hack, but FireEye suspects that the hackers are based in China.

County Judge to Mobilize Crews, Won’t Wait for Feds to Fix Levees Breached for Border Wall, Source Says  (Sandra Sanchez, Border Report)
Start of hurricane season June 1 threatens flood-prone region in South Texas; DHS officials say repairs would take 9 months.

AI Helps Identify Data Gaps, Improve Interoperability at DHS  (Kate Macri, Government CIO)
ICE and NCITE, a DHS S&T COE, highlighted the ways AI can support DHS mission integrity.

No Ransomware Silver Bullet, Crooks out of Reach  (Frank Bajak, Claims Journal)
Political hand-wringing in Washington over Russia’s hacking of federal agencies and interference in U.S. politics has mostly overshadowed a worsening digital scourge with a far broader wallop: crippling and dispiriting ransomware attacks by cybercriminal mafias that mostly operate in foreign safe havens out of the reach of Western law enforcement.

Our picks: China watch

Countering China’s Global Great Game  (Michael Sobolik, National Interest)
Washington’s instinctual response to compete with the Belt and Road Initiative dollar-for-dollar is a losing proposition that plays into China’s long game. But with an offensive framework, American policymakers could turn the tables and transform the BRI into an albatross for the Communist Party.

The World Might Want China’s Rules  (Stephen M. Walt, Foreign Policy)
Washington shouldn’t assume its values are more attractive to others than Beijing’s.

The China Model: Why Is the West Imitating Beijing?  (Niall Ferguson, The Spectator)
It is one thing to compete with China. I firmly believe we need to do that in every domain, from artificial intelligence to Covid vaccines. But the minute we start copying China, we are on the path to perdition.

Australia Draws a Line on China  (Keith Johnson, Foreign Policy)
Canberra’s had enough of trade embargoes and Chinese grievances—and is ready to draw a line.

Chinese State-Backed Hacker Allegedly Targeted Russian Nuclear Submarine Designer  (Fabienne Lang, Interesting Engineering)
The hacker apparently used a backdoor attack system.

China’s Growing Nuclear Threat  (Patty-Jane Geller and Peter Brookes, Heritage)
Beijing is revealing its grand ambitions through its unprecedented nuclear modernization programs, inserting more uncertainty and risk into an already challenging international security environment. These forces will enable China to improve its ability to coerce the United States and restrain response options. As a result, the United States must carefully consider the growing Chinese threat as it pursues its own nuclear modernization to ensure that U.S. nuclear deterrence remains strong.

How the US and EU Can Counter Digital Threats Together  (Harry I. Hannah, Atlantic Council)
The United States and its allies face significant and growing threats from Russia and China in “hybrid” and “gray zone” warfare, fought at least partially in the digital and information environments. The threats aren’t all the same: They range from Russia’s cyberattacks and electoral interference against Europe and the United States to China’s long campaign to dominate key technology sectors such as 5G and artificial intelligence.
While different in style, Russian and Chinese threats all seek to exploit gaps in Western cyber defenses and digital and information governance. These gaps exist because national policies, laws, regulations, and standards vary across NATO members and across military and civilian dimensions of the Alliance. As a result, to create effective defense strategy, NATO must recognize that the military threat environment is shaped by the civilian organizations that write these rules.

Britain Set to Stockpile Metals for Electric Cars to Beat Chinese Threat  (Alan Tovey, The Telegraph)
Move comes as fears mount that China is ruthlessly cornering the market in the rare earths needed for the EV revolution.

The Revenge of History  (Editorial, New Statesman)
China’s autocratic turn shows why the UK must end its dependence on the country for essential infrastructure.

China Features Heavily in the Army’s Next Big Emerging Tech Experiment  (Patrick Tucker, Defense One)
The Army’s connect-everything experiment is about to get much bigger, and looks across the Pacific.

The Future of Sino-U.S. Proxy War  (Dominique Tierney, Texas National Security Review)
Strategic thought in both the United States and China has focused on the potential for a Sino-U.S. interstate war and downplayed the odds of a clash in a foreign internal conflict. However, great-power military competition is likely to take the form of proxy war in which Washington and Beijing aid rival actors in an intrastate conflict. The battlefield of Sino-U.S. military competition is more likely to be Venezuela or Myanmar than the South China Sea. Proxy war could escalate in unexpected and costly ways as Washington and Beijing try to manipulate civil wars in far-flung lands they do not understand, ratchet up their commitment to avoid the defeat of a favored actor, and respond to local surrogates that pursue their own agendas.

Our picks: Rare Earth elements (RREs)

Chinese Stranglehold on Rare Earths Forces U.K. into Secret Talks with Allies  (Emma Gatten, The Telegraph)
Britain is grappling to secure supplies of the minerals, used in motors of electric cars and in wind turbines, to power green revolution.

Rare Earth Separation Planned in England  (Alex Scott, C&EN)
Pensana, a UK firm with a rare earth metal mine in Angola, is seeking funding for a $125 million rare earth metal separation facility in England’s Saltend Chemicals Park. Pensana aims to separate 12,500 metric tons (t) per year of rare earth oxides, initially sourced from the Angola mine. Production would include 4,500 t per year of magnet metal rare earth oxides, including neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, for applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines.

We Can End China’s Rare-Mineral Monopoly  (Ed Conway, The Times)
By becoming a world leader in processing, Britain could be at the front of the tech revolution.

Is There a Shortage of Lithium-Ion Batteries?  (Emily Newton, Global Trade Magazine)
The wider availability of electric vehicles has played a major role in getting more people interested in them. However, analysts warn that a lack of lithium-ion batteries could stifle the surge in electric vehicle adoption.

The New Gold Rush: How Britain’s Mines Will Be Central to Ending Our Reliance on China  (Emma Gatten, The Telegraph)
Explorations for lithium in Cornwall and the Northeast could prove vital to help power the Government’s green revolution.

Pensana Rare Earths to Establish Sustainable Supply of Critical Rare Earths  (Jessica Casey, Global Mining Review)
Pensana Plc has announced the company has adopted a business plan to seek to establish, subject to funding, a world-class, independent and sustainable supply chain of the rare earth metals vital for electric vehicle, wind turbine and other strategic industries. 

U.S. Faces Uphill Climb to Rival China’s Rare-Earth Magnet Industry  (Alistair MacDonald, Wall Street Journal)
West lags China on both supply and processing of materials key to electric cars and wind turbines

The Future of Appalachian Coal and Rare Earth Elements  (Hazard Herald)
When it comes to Appalachian coal, it might be appropriate to borrow from that often-misquoted phrase from Mark Twain, “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Today the world scrambles for supplies of rare earth elements, elements which are critical in the components of high technology devices, including smart phones, digital cameras, computer hard discs, flat screen televisions, computer monitors, electronic displays, and yes, even electric vehicles, wind power and other green technologies of the future.
Today, the United States imports most of its rare earth elements from China. In 2018, it was estimated that the cost of imports of rare earth elements in total dollars was relatively low, approximately $160 million dollars. However, the cost of imported products manufactured in China from rare earth elements was estimated at approximately $2 trillion dollars.