Assessment of critical defense mineral supply chain vulnerabilities

(a) In general The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct an assessment of the supply chains of critical defense minerals for the defense industrial base to identify vulnerabilities in such supply chains. (b) Report Not later than 365 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Committees on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and Senate a report on the findings of the assessment conducted under subsection (a), including— (1) an identification of each source of each critical defense mineral described in such subsection; (2) an evaluation of the barriers to expanding the domestic capacity for mining and producing such critical defense minerals; and (3) recommendations for Congress and appropriate Federal agencies to incentivize the domestic production of such critical defense minerals. (c) Critical defense minerals defined In this section, the term critical defense mineral means a mineral that is essential to manufacturing to supply the military, industrial, and essential civilian needs of the United States for national defense, including rare earth elements, lithium, cobalt, and nickel.