Rebuilding Defense Industrial Base Requires Skilled Labor

To remain competitive, the United States must rebuild its defense industrial base - the private sector companies that provide the military with hardware and munitions - and that means more than just facilities and businesses.

That was the message delivered by Michael Cadenazzi, the assistant secretary of war for industrial base policy, during a field hearing before the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee in Santa Clarita, California, Sept. 4. He noted that rebuilding the defense industrial base also means having the right people lining up to do the skilled work at those facilities, such as welding and machining.

"My focus here today is on the skilled tradespeople we need to rebuild and scale the [defense industrial base]: the engineers, the pipe fitters, the welders and those who make the world's finest weapons for our warfighters," Cadenazzi said.

Through a variety of initiatives, the War Department has made it a priority to encourage young Americans to choose skilled trades to provide the workforce needed to rebuild America's industrial base.

"Decades of government policy and societal pressure have driven millions of talented young Americans toward degrees, which haven't delivered the benefits they were promised, and have left defense manufacturers with few skilled workers waiting in the wings," Cadenazzi said.

The secretary said there are some 400,000 unfilled skilled-trade jobs in the defense industrial base today, and that number could grow to 2.5 million over the next decade.

Getting Americans into those jobs means convincing young people that skilled-trades work is good work, and meaningful; it is a tall order, he said.

"We need to reach Americans in their living rooms and classrooms, break the stigma of blue-collar work and drive a massive influx of passionate, capable people into these programs," Cadenazzi said.

The next workforce that will work in the trades and fill skilled labor positions, he said, is in grade school right now. Those young people need to be reached now to pique their interest.

"Our approach is that if you don't get kids excited in elementary [and] middle school about the trades, by the time that they graduate high school, they're not actually interested," Cadenazzi said. "[Our] next generation of submarine builders is in middle school today ... so we've got to get them excited in the moment."

He noted that one potential hurdle will be parents, who may be reluctant to encourage their children to choose a path other than continuing their education in college, because they may themselves be the first in their families to have attended.

"The idea of their kid going to the trades needs to be something they consider," he said. "We need to help the parents understand that this is a great alternative for their children for the future."

Earlier this summer, the War Department launched the Build Freedom Initiative, which promotes and funds blue-collar careers. Through the initiative, coupled with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's arsenal of freedom effort, the department aims to strengthen the nation by encouraging more Americans to choose the skilled-trade workforce. For the War Department, that means rebuilding the defense industrial base, including training more young Americans to build and repair ships, aircraft and munitions.

"Build Freedom will act as a national hiring, training and awareness campaign to drive America's resurgence in defense manufacturing," Cadenazzi told lawmakers. "Build Freedom aligns more than 70 industrial-based analysis and sustainment, or IBAS, workforce projects under one campaign, ensuring that federally funded workforce opportunities reach the Americans they were designed to serve."

The Build Freedom Initiative was initially launched in three states - Texas, Michigan and Pennsylvania - and DOW plans to expand the program nationwide.

"This national awareness will drive individuals to our new buildfreedom.us website, a one-stop shop where their interests can be converted into scholarships, training, credentials and job opportunities," Cadenazzi said. "Our goal with Build Freedom is to send a clear, compelling message to the American public: there are hundreds of thousands of good-paying, [artificial intelligence-proof] jobs available today in the [defense industrial base] and in other skilled trades."