“Virus Surge Brings Calls for Trump to Invoke Defense Production Act”

The Hon. James Baker, professor of law and director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law, was quoted in the New York Times story, “Virus Surge Brings Calls for Trump to Invoke Defense Production Act.” The story discusses how the pandemic has caused a shortage of medical supplies, but the Trump administration’s reluctance to utilize the law has caused “chaos” in many states. Baker, an expert on national security law, says that “the federal government — the president or secretaries possessing delegated authority — have not done yet is use the D.P.A. to create a permanent, sustainable, redundant, domestic supply chain for all things pandemic: testing, swabs, N95 masks, etc.” He worries that “the federal government’s struggle to supply swabs and protective gear might portend difficulties in widely distributing a vaccine.”