The Cyber Defense eMagazine February Edition for 2024

It is highly likely that the employers of every CISO in some fashion operate in one or more of these
sectors. Similar requirements for these organizations are in large part applicable to those levied upon
my industry. For your convenience, the list of the 16 sectors is posted online at
https://www.cisa.gov/topics/critical-infrastructure-security-and-resilience/critical-infrastructure-sectors
Drilling down, Aluminum is listed in the Critical Manufacturing Sector, and specifically designated as a
“core” of the sector in the Sector Overview.
The Critical Manufacturing Sector identified several industries to serve as the core of the sector:
• Primary Metals Manufacturing
• Iron and Steel Mills and Ferro Alloy Manufacturing
• Alumina and Aluminum Production and Processing
• Nonferrous Metal Production and Processing
Conflicting and Competing Priorities in Aluminum
While specifically only applicable to the aluminum market, the current situation illustrates how an industry
can face forces which can fundamentally impair its ability to support a vigorous sector of our critical
infrastructure. Your industry will probably face different challenges, but the principles of responding to
such threats are likely to be very similar.
Without needlessly reciting history or straying far from the thrust of this article, the nub of the matter is
that the American aluminum industry is currently about 1 million metric tons of processed aluminum
(“billets”) short of the annual needs of the critical manufacturing sector.
We rely to a large extent on the importation of processed aluminum billets, from numerous other
countries. Among them is Russia, which is currently subject to sanctions in the form of a 200% [not a
typo] tariff on this product.
The tariff is an application of our foreign policy with respect to Russia, and is accompanied by claims of
national security being threatened by reliance on this particular international source for the needed billets.
But tariffs are a blunt instrument. Tariffs were originally intended to accomplish one or more of several
principal purposes: protection of domestic industry, raise revenue, and modify the behavior of market
participants. Unfortunately, they can also stifle the legitimate needs of American industry.
That is the case here. We are all familiar with the so-called Law of Unintended Consequences, which
usually comes into play in government functions. By essentially making one source of the needed
aluminum billets unaffordable, we are starving the manufacturing sector of essential materials. The
unintended consequence is the loss of manufacturing capacity, the loss of jobs, an unnecessary threat
to the supply chains of our critical infrastructure, and our national security.
Cyber Defense eMagazine – February 2024 Edition 20
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