Highlights
- The US must treat rare earths as sovereign capabilities, creating a comprehensive industrial strategy modeled after World War II logistics approaches.
- A coordinated national effort involving infrastructure development, strategic stockpiling, education, and public awareness is critical to rare earth resilience.
- Winning the rare earth war requires outmaneuvering geopolitical competitors through strategic alliances, industrial foresight, and targeted government intervention.
In World War II, it wasn’t just tanks, troops, or tactics that turned the tide—it was logistics. In the seminal RAND study The Big ‘L’: American Logistics in World War II, the authors lay bare the true backbone of victory: an industrial juggernaut engineered by deliberate government action, hardwired into every port, rail, and ration. Today, the United States and its allies face a different kind of war—less kinetic, no less existential. It is a battle for rare earths and critical minerals, the atomic-era equivalents of oil, steel, and rubber. And once again, logistics—industrial logistics-must become the strategy.
Inspiration for this Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) article comes from the book “The Big L American Logistics in World War II (opens in a new tab)”
Logistics Is the War
“The strategy was logistics,” declares The Big ‘L’. In 2025, the same must be said of rare earths, as well as the much vaster critical minerals segment. Without domestic separation plants, magnet factories, and metallurgical expertise, American AI, EVs, semiconductors, missiles, and satellites remain dangerously dependent on a geopolitical adversary. Rare earths are not mere commodities; they are sovereign capabilities. The U.S. government must treat them as such—integrating rare earth resilience into national defense, economic security, and global trade policy.
Infrastructure First, Not Last
Just as Roosevelt’s war machine built airstrips, depots, and dry docks before the front line advanced, today’s rare earth strategy must prioritize processing infrastructure, not just mining claims. Cracking, separating, and alloying facilities must be funded and sited in allied jurisdictions with speed and conviction. Magnet-making must be revived on Western soil. Loans, grants, and permitting guarantees must replace lip service.
Modern Lend-Lease: The Offtake Arsenal
The 1941 Lend-Lease Act let America equip its allies long before Pearl Harbor. Today, the U.S. can use the same playbook. Offer offtake guarantees for neodymium-praseodymium oxide, dysprosium, terbium, and sintered magnets. Let allied firms build the plants, while the U.S. signs the checks. Strategic stockpiles aren’t enough—we need reliable buying, not just storing.
Coordination Is Everything
During World War II, the War Production Board helped prevent chaos. Today’s rare earth sector is a disorganized collection of miners, recyclers, refiners, and would-be magnet manufacturers. The U.S. needs a Rare Earth Coordination Authority to centralize planning, funding, and accountability. Vertical integration should be a funding prerequisite, not a corporate afterthought. A Critical Minerals Czar can be at the top of the executive branch.
Redundancy and Stockpiling: Attrition by Design
Victory in WWII came not from precision but from redundancy—more tanks, more bombers, more bullets. The rare earth war will be won the same way: two metal plants, three oxide converters, rotating strategic reserves in multiple states. Dependence on a single site—or country—is a strategic liability.
The Industrial College Returns
To run the wartime supply chain, the Army created a college to train officers in industrial strategy. Where is the civilian equivalent of rare earths? America must fund technical schools and research centers specializing in rare earth chemistry, metallurgy, and magnetics. Without brains, the best machines won’t run. It’s time. Since our launch in October 2024, we have been advocating for integrated educational programs that cover the entire value chain—upstream, midstream, and downstream.
Mobilize the Public: A 21st-Century Arsenal of Democracy.
Roosevelt asked Americans to ration rubber and collect scrap metal. Today, the public must understand why tariffs, subsidies, and industrial planning for rare earths are not protectionism—they are a matter of survival. “Economic security is national security” must not be a slogan. It must be a shared civic doctrine.
Conclusion: Lose the Minerals, Lose the Future
In World War II, the Allies won not just by outfighting the Axis, but also by outproducing it. Today, the West cannot out-produce China in labor costs, but it can outmaneuver with strategy, alliances, and industrial foresight. The lesson of The Big ‘L’ is clear: when logistics becomes the strategy, victory becomes possible. America won World War II with ships and steel. It will win the rare earth war through the use of separation plants and magnets.
Rare Earth Strategy Framework: WWII Lessons Applied
| WWII Strategy | Rare Earth Equivalent | Government Action Required |
| Lend-Lease | Offtake agreements, pre-purchase guarantees | Establish Rare Earth Strategic Reserve Authority |
| War Production Board | Rare Earth Coordination Authority | Centralize funding and planning |
| Strategic Infrastructure | Separation, magnet, and alloying facilities | Grants, loans, fast-tracked permitting |
| Army Industrial College | REE Metallurgy Training Programs | Fund education and R&D hubs |
| Strategic Stockpiling | Oxide, metal, and magnet reserves | Subsidize distributed stockpiles |
| National Rationing Campaigns | Public education and ESG narrative | Launch national awareness strategy |
Let history not be a mirror of regret. Let it be a manual for industrial resurgence.
The Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) online platform will soon help direct both retail and institutional investors toward investment options, making resilience a reality.
Visit the Rare Earth Exchanges Forum (opens in a new tab) to discuss further.
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