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Shipbuilding to Citizenship: Solving the U.S. Skills Shortage with Immigration
Skill-based immigration can help the United States fill its severe shortage of shipbuilding workers, for both naval and civilian construction.
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U.S.-UK Trade Deal Illustrates Trump’s Shifting Trade Policy
The U.S.-UK trade agreement is Trump’s first since his “Liberation Day” tariff announcements. It could be a possible template for other nations seeking a deal, but it could also have major implications for global trading norms.
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Texas House Advances Bill That Would Prohibit Land Sales to People and Entities from Certain Countries
The legislation had only pertained to countries the government deemed national security threats. A last-minute change would let the governor add more countries to the ban.
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Apprentices Needed: Construction Shortages Threaten American Growth
U.S. plans for new factories, new tech hubs—even new homes—are about to crash into one very inconvenient fact: Not enough people work in construction to turn those plans into actual, hammer-and-nail reality. Not even close.
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Vocational Training Can Play a Greater Role in National Security
We talk a lot about resilience and preparedness. But these goals aren’t met solely through top-down directives or university research hubs. They rely on a skilled workforce—one that’s ready to respond across sectors, jurisdictions and threat types. That workforce is increasingly trained not in lecture theatres, but in registered training organizations.
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What Rare Earth Elements Are and Why They Matter
Rare 17 earth elements are critical to many industries—used in electric motors, medical imaging and diagnostics, oil and gas refining, and computer and phone screens. These elements have become a hot political issue, says an Earth Sciences professor.
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Texas May Put Restraints on New Big Businesses Hoping to Tap into the Energy Grid
Texas will need a lot more energy in the future. According to ERCOT, the state’s energy demand may double in six years.
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The Battle for Pentagon Acquisition Policy: Tradition Versus New-and-Cheaper
The weapons that get bought in larger or smaller quantities, or are launched or cancelled, will indicate whether US President Donald Trump’s administration will strengthen long-range deterrent forces, order a retreat under his Golden Dome missile-defense system, or spend four years trying to blend incompatible visions of industrial and technological strategy.
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U.S. Senate Committee Advances Kelly's Critical Minerals Bill
A bill seeking to improve America’s mineral supply chain is heading to the U.S. Senate floor. The Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2025, introduced by Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, would remove disparities between separate critical materials lists from the Department of Energy and Department of Interior. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the bill last week.
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How the U.S. Can Mine Its Own Critical Minerals − without Digging New Holes
Critical materials are the tiny building blocks powering modern life, yet the U.S. depends heavily on imports for most critical materials. Could the U.S. mine and process more critical minerals at home?
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How California’s Farmers Can Recharge the Aquifers They’ve Drained
Agriculture requires a lot of water. In the drought-stricken Central Valley, researchers have found a win-win for growers.
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Deep Sea Mining is the New Front in Pacific Competition
Recent developments reflect the rise of renewed great-power resource rivalry and the race for critical minerals, which underpin digital infrastructure and green energy.
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Exploring New Frontiers in Mineral Extraction
The minerals found in the deep ocean are used to manufacture products like the lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles, cell phones, or solar cells. In some cases, the estimated resources of critical mineral deposits in parts of the abyssal ocean exceed global land-based reserves severalfold. Professor Thomas Peacock’s research aims to better understand the impact of deep-sea mining.
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‘The West Will Lead’: Utah, Idaho, Wyoming Team Up on Nuclear Energy Development
Utah state leaders are taking the next steps in their efforts to make Utah a major nuclear energy development hub and a “national leader” in developing next-generation energy technology, reaching beyond state lines to do it.
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Reinvigorating Naval Shipbuilding: Meeting the President's Challenge
To respond to the Trump administration’s call for the reinvigoration of the U.S. shipbuilding industry, policymakers should examine past failures, seek an improved shipbuilding workforce, and consider enlisting the help of close allies like Japan and South Korea.
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The long view
Even Out of China’s Hands, Mines Still Rely on Its Equipment
The landmark critical minerals agreement between Australia and the United States is vital to both nations’ security and sovereignty. But the agreement signed carries an inherent vulnerability. The very partnership designed to reduce China’s coercive leverage is increasingly relying on Chinese technology to give effect to its objectives.
Building Trust into Tech: A Framework for Sovereign Resilience
Governments are facing a critical question: who can be trusted to build and manage their countries’ most sensitive systems? Vendor choices, for everything from cloud infrastructure to identity platforms, are no longer just commercial; they are strategic.
Data Centers’ Insatiable Demand for Electricity Will Change the Entire Energy Sector
When the first large language models were unleashed, it triggered a headache for authorities around the world as they tried to figure out how to satisfy data centers’ endless demand for electricity.