![]() ![]() But it actually happens pretty regularly, though on a much smaller scale. Sasha Baker, a top aide to former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, told me that some people may get scared or anxious hearing the act has been invoked because it makes it seem like the nation is gearing up for war. The DPA was “really made for a moment like this” That company would then have to fulfill that order first before it could fill any other commercial orders, since the federal government gets priority. The president would authorize DoD to place an order with a company - say, for a lot of respirators - and then the Pentagon would go to that company and ask it to produce those respirators. But Trump can’t just go to a company and say “produce this.” He delegates those requests to federal agencies, and the one that does the vast majority of the ordering is the Defense Department. Specifically, the DPA allows the federal government to skip the line, so to speak, when it makes requests of private industries. It’s been amended and altered over the years, but the general thrust remains the same. With Congress’s help, the DPA was signed into law in September 1950. Think, for example, of how Ford Motor Company made nearly 300,000 vehicles - including tanks - for World War II.Īs the Cold War heated up in the late 1940s and the Korean War began in June 1950, President Harry Truman’s administration thought it should codify those powers into law. The DPA was inspired by laws from 19 that gave the White House the ability to tell private companies what to make for the good of the country. ![]() “Invoking the DPA is like calling in the cavalry in response to a national emergency.” What’s the Defense Production Act? ![]() “Depending on how the Trump administration utilizes the DPA, this could be a big step forward in combating the pandemic,” Jerry McGinn, who ran DPA programs in the Pentagon, told me. Since there are concerns about a dearth of masks, medical gloves, ventilators, respirators, and perhaps even hospital beds, it’s likely that those are what Trump will request of industry in America over the next few weeks. Hopefully there will be no need, but we are all in this TOGETHER!- Donald J. I only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future. ![]()
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