The Defense Production Act (Public Law 81-774) is a United States law enacted on September 8, 1950, in response to the start of the Korean War. It was part of a broad civil defense and war mobilization effort in the context of the Cold War. Its implementing regulations, the Defense Priorities and Allocation System (DPAS), are located at 15 CFR §§700 to 700.93. The Act has been periodically reauthorized and amended, and remains in force as of 2007. September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... Combatants United Nations:  Republic of Korea,  Australia,  Belgium,  Luxembourg,  Canada,  Colombia,  Ethiopia,  France,  Greece,  Luxembourg,  Netherlands,  New Zealand,  Philippines,  South Africa,  Thailand,  Turkey,  United Kingdom,  United States Medical staff:  Denmark,  Australia,  Italy,  Norway,  Sweden Communist states:  Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,  Peoples Republic of China,  Soviet Union Commanders... The old United States civil defense logo. ... This article describes military mobilization. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations (sometimes called administrative law) published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States. ...

The Act contains three major sections. The first authorizes the President to require businesses to sign contracts or fulfill orders deemed necessary for national defense. The second authorizes the President to establish mechanisms (such as regulations, orders or agencies) to allocate materials, services and facilities to promote national defense. The third section authorizes the President to control the civilian economy so that scarce and/or critical materials necessary to the national defense effort are available for defense needs.^[1] The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. ...

The Act also authorizes the President to requisition property, force industry to expand production and the supply of basic resources, impose wage and price controls, settle labor disputes, control consumer and real estate credit, establish contractual priorities, and allocate raw materials to aid the national defense.^[1]

The President's authority to place contracts under the DPA is the part of the Act most often used by the Department of Defense (DOD) since the 1970s. Most of the other functions of the Act are administered by the Office of Strategic Industries and Economic Security (SIES) in the Bureau of Industry and Security in the Department of Commerce.^[2] The United States Department of Defense (DOD or DoD) is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to national security and the military. ... The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce which deals with issues involving national security and high technology. ... The United States Department of Commerce is a Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. ...

Korean War-era usage

The DPA was used during the Korean War to establish a large defense mobilization infrastructure and bureacracy. Under the authority of the Act, President Harry S. Truman established the Office of Defense Mobilization, instituted wage and price controls, strictly regulated production in heavy industries such as steel and mining, and ordered the disperal of wartime manufacturing plans across the nation.^[3] President Truman announces that Germany had surrendered (May 8 1945) Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953); as Vice President, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The Act also played a vital role in the establishment of the domestic aluminum and titanium industries in the 1950s. Using the Act, DOD provided capital and interest-free loans, and directed mining and manufacturing resources as well as skilled laborers to these two processing industries.^[4]

Use as innovation tool

Beginning in the 1980s, DOD began using the contracting and spending provisions of the DPA to provide seed money to develop new technologies.^[5] Using the Act, DOD has helped to develop a number of new technologies and materials, including silicon carbide ceramics, indium phosphide and gallium arsenide semiconductors, microwave power tubes, radiation-hardened microelectronics, superconducting wire, and metal composites.^[4] Silicon carbide (SiC) is a ceramic compound of silicon and carbon that is manufactured on a large scale for use mainly as an abrasive but also occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite. ... Flash point Non-flmmable. ... This article is about the chemical compound. ... A semiconductor is a solid whose electrical conductivity can be controlled over a wide range, either permanently or dynamically. ... Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths longer than those of terahertz (THz) frequencies, but relatively short for radio waves. ... Superconductivity is a phenomenon occurring in certain materials at low temperatures, characterised by the complete absence of electrical resistance and the damping of the interior magnetic field (the Meissner effect. ...

Notes

References

• "The Defense Production Act: Choice as to Allocations." Columbia Law Review. 51:3 (March 1951).
• Lockwood, David E. Defense Production Act: Purpose and Scope. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. June 22, 2001.
• Mirsky, Rich. "Trekking Through That Valley of Death—The Defense Production Act." Innovation. June/July 2005.
• National Research Council. Defense Manufacturing in 2010 and Beyond: Meeting the Changing Needs of National Defense. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999. ISBN 0309063760
• Nibley, Stuart B. "Defense Production Act: The Government's Old but Powerful Procurement Tool." Legal Times. April 1, 2002.
• Nibley, Stuart. "Defense Production Act Speeds Up Wartime Purchases." National Defense. June 2006.
• Pierpaoli Jr., Paul G. Truman and Korea: The Political Culture of the Early Cold War. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1999. ISBN 0826212069