Rare earth elements are a key component in renewable energy infrastructure. But the powerful magnets that require REE are also increasingly a major part of armaments such as bombs, bombers, submarines, and drones. The Pentagon and other military institutions are prioritizing secure supply chains to ensure unimpeded access to these critical raw materials. Do these military applications divert much needed resources away from the transition away from fossil fuels? How do these military supply chains affect communities around REE mining sites?

Julie Klinger is an associate professor of geography and spatial sciences at the University of Delaware. She publishes on rare earth elements, natural resource use, the energy transition, and outer space, and is the author of the award-winning book Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes (Cornell University Press, 2018). Coryn Wolk is a Ph.d researcher at the University of Delaware who has specialized in tracking mineral supply chains and their industrial nodes.