# § 98a. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose
**(a)** The Congress finds that the natural resources of the United States in certain strategic and critical materials are deficient or insufficiently developed to supply the military, industrial, and essential civilian needs of the United States for national defense.
**(b)** It is the purpose of this subchapter to provide for the acquisition and retention of stocks of certain strategic and critical materials and to encourage the conservation and development of sources of such materials within the United States and thereby to decrease and to preclude, when possible, a dangerous and costly dependence by the United States upon foreign sources or a single point of failure for supplies of such materials in times of national emergency.
**(c)** The purpose of the National Defense Stockpile is to serve the interest of national defense only. The National Defense Stockpile is not to be used for economic or budgetary purposes.
**(d)** To the maximum extent practicable and to reduce the reliance of the National Defense Stockpile program on appropriated funds, the National Defense Stockpile Manager shall seek to achieve positive cash flows from the recovery of strategic and critical materials pursuant to section 98e(a)(5) of this title.
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**Source Credit**: (June 7, 1939, ch. 190, § 2, as added Pub. L. 96–41, § 2(a), July 30, 1979, 93 Stat. 319; amended Pub. L. 100–180, div. C, title II, § 3202(b), Dec. 4, 1987, 101 Stat. 1245; Pub. L. 103–160, div. C, title XXXIII, § 3311, Nov. 30, 1993, 107 Stat. 1961; Pub. L. 104–201, div. C, title XXXIII, § 3311(b), Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2857; Pub. L. 112–239, div. A, title XIV, § 1412, Jan. 2, 2013, 126 Stat. 2048; Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XIV, § 1411(a), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 523.)
## Editorial Notes
### Prior Provisions
A prior section 98a, acts , ; , ; 1953 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 2(b), eff. , 18 F.R. 3375, ; 1958 Reorg. Plan No. 1, § 2, eff. , 23 F.R. 4991, ; , , ; Ex. Ord. No. 11725, § 3, eff. , 38 F.R. 17175, related to determination of strategic and critical materials, the quantity and quality to be purchased, formation and functions of industry advisory committees, and the subsistence and traveling expenses of members of those committees, prior to repeal by .
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in former prior to repeal by .
### Amendments
2023—Subsec. (d). added subsec. (d).
2013—Subsec. (b). inserted “or a single point of failure” after “foreign sources”.
1996—Subsec. (c). added subsec. (c) and struck out former subsec. (c) which read as follows: “In providing for the National Defense Stockpile under this subchapter, Congress establishes the following principles:
“(1) The purpose of the National Defense Stockpile is to serve the interest of national defense only. The National Defense Stockpile is not to be used for economic or budgetary purposes.
“(2) Before , the quantities of materials stockpiled under this subchapter should be sufficient to sustain the United States for a period of not less than three years during a national emergency situation that would necessitate total mobilization of the economy of the United States for a sustained conventional global war of indefinite duration.
“(3) On and after , the quantities of materials stockpiled under this subchapter should be sufficient to meet the needs of the United States during a period of a national emergency that would necessitate an expansion of the Armed Forces together with a significant mobilization of the economy of the United States under planning guidance issued by the Secretary of Defense.”
1993—Subsec. (c)(2). , substituted “Before , the quantities” for “The quantities”.
Subsec. (c)(3). , added par. (3).
1987—Subsec. (c). added subsec. (c).
## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
### Effective Date of 1996 Amendment
> “The amendments made by this section [amending this section and
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, , , provided that: