Pentagon contractors push for industrial base policy

Facing flattening Pentagon budgets after a decade of historic growth, defense industry officials are pushing the Obama administration to create an industrial base policy that outlines which technologies and capabilities it deems critical to national security.

The policy, which has been discussed over the last several years by administration and industry officials but never actually written, would help defense firms grappling with tighter defense dollars determine which business areas the Pentagon will fund for years to come. Such a policy also would answer the question of whether the administration considers a strong industrial base to be crucial to defending the United States, Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.