Introduction

In political science, the defence industrial base (or DIB), or defence industrial and technological base is a government’s industrial assets that are of direct or indirect importance for the production of equipment for a country’s armed forces. It is loosely associated with realism, which views the state as the preponderant guarantor of security, and frequently features as an element of grand strategy and defence policy, as well as diplomacy.

United States

A commonly cited example of a defence industrial base is that of the United States, where, given the onset of the Cold War accompanied by the outbreak of the Korean War, the maintenance “of a peacetime defense industry of significant proportions was an unprecedented event.”

Researchers and public figures critical of close ties among legislators, militaries, and the defence industrial base due to a government’s monopoly on demand for products of the latter employ the concept of the military-industrial complex to critique these connections. Early studies of interest group representation in the US referred to these ties as exemplary of the iron triangle phenomenon.

Government Coordinating Council

As of January 27th, 2023, the current governing council of the Defence industrial base in the United States of America includes:

1. Office of the Director of National Intelligence
2. National Security Council
3. US Department of Commerce
   • Office of Technology Evaluation, Bureau of Industry and Security
4. US Department of Defence
   • Director of the Joint Staff
   • Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defence and Global Security
   • Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defence for Logistics and Material Readiness
   • Office of DoD Chief Information Officer
   • Office of the Chief, National Guard Bureau
   • Office of the Under Secretary of Defence for Acquisition and Sustainment
   • Office of the Under Secretary of Defence for Intelligence
   • Office of the Under Secretary of Defence for Personnel and Readiness
5. US Department of Energy
6. US Department of Homeland Security
   • Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
7. US Department of Justice
   • Federal Bureau of Investigation
8. US Department of State
   • Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
9. US Department of the Treasury
   • Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection & Compliance Policy

Works Cited

• Austin, Mike: Managing the US Defense Industrial Base: A Strategic Imperative, Parameters, Summer 1994, pp. 27–37.
• Boezer, Gordon; Gutmaris, Ivans; Muckerman II, Joseph E.: The Defense Technology and Industrial Base: Key Component of National Power, Parameters, Summer 1997, pp. 26–51.
• Abbott, Gerald; Johnson, Stuart: The Changing Defense Industrial Base, Strategic Forum, No. 96, November 1996.
• Gentsch, Eric L.; Peterson, Donna J. S.: A Method for Industrial Base Analysis: An Aerospace Case Study, Bethesda, MD: Logistics Management Institute, 1993
• Markusen, Ann: The Rise of World Weapons, Foreign Policy, No. 114, Spring, 1999, pp. 40–51

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