High Performance Microchip Supply - Under Secretary of Defense ...

FINDINGS ___________________________________________________________________
although some risk is inherent in legacy part
redesigns.
Additional study by both the DOD and its suppliers
is needed to determine how best to assure supplies
of obsolete parts needed for system repair and
replacement.
Although there have been concerns about isolated
supply problems (e.g., radiation-hardened and
obsolete parts supplies), the full integrated supply
problem has emerged onto the acquisition agenda
and is only now being fully identified. DOD lacks a
stable long-term investment, technology, and
acquisition strategy capable of meeting its and its
suppliers microelectronic component supply needs.
Attempts to deal with microelectronics supply
issues have been limited to isolated efforts to date.
DOD lacks a long-term plan for the preservation of
U.S. information superiority, which is a cornerstone
of U.S. national security. The department must
either develop such a plan or be prepared to
surrender this advantage, i.e., identify the
alternative means by which national security will be
assured in a regime of information inferiority.
This conclusion is a call for the U.S. government in general, and
the DOD and its suppliers specifically, to establish a series of
activities to ensure that the United States maintains reliable access to
the full spectrum of microelectronics components, from commodity
and legacy, to state-of-the-art parts, and application-specific ICs
special technologies. These activities must provide assurance that
each component’s trustworthiness (confidentiality, integrity, and
availability) is consistent with that component’s military application.
Over time, semiconductor design and production will almost
certainly become more, not less, globalized, making risk mitigation
strategies that rely strictly on domestic design and production
increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to implement. Commercial
firms may be eager to contract design and production services, but
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