The Trump administration has tapped a former Defense Department official with military technology expertise to lead a public-private effort to stockpile critical minerals.
Brett Lambert, a national security consultant and former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for manufacturing and industrial base policy, will be the executive chairman of VaultCo, the U.S. Export-Import Bank announced Thursday.
VaultCo is a public-private partnership tasked with implementing Project Vault, a $12 billion effort President Donald Trump launched earlier this year to help protect American industries in need of minerals from supply shocks. Both the Biden administration and the Trump administration have sought to gain a foothold for the U.S. in the mining and processing of minerals that is largely dominated by China.
John Jovanovic, chair of the Export-Import Bank, said Lambert’s appointment would help the project “strengthen America’s industrial base, support domestic production of critical materials, and give manufacturers greater confidence that the resources they need will be available when they need them.”
