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There it was, on the Jan. 10 edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight, tucked between an update on the congressional confirmation hearings for then Supreme Court candidate Judge Samuel Alito and the latest handwringing over Mexicans crossing the U.S. border: a segment on America's loss of circuit board technology. After years of using low cost, backdoor channels and clumsy though sincere attempts to bend the ears of Washington, the PCB industry had made it to the big stage.

Just how a relatively small and struggling industry caught the eye of the former Mr. Moneyline owes to a just-issued report by the National Academy of Sciences, which laid bare the ugly details while pinning much of the blame on the policies of the Department of Defense, which ironically commissioned the study. In the report, the NAS found that:

Today, many in the Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Congress, and the federal government lack a clear understanding of the importance of high-quality, trustworthy printed circuit boards (PCBs) for properly functioning weapons and other defense systems and components. … [T]here is currently no adequate set of information or paradigm for DoD to use in determining what is needed to ensure adequate access to reliable and trustworthy PCBs for use in secure defense systems.

In short, our domestic ability to produce electronic substrates for national defense measures has been severely compromised, and the agency that stood to be most affected wasn't minding the store.

NAS found that DoD policies for cost-cutting and commercial off-the-shelf products have in effect led the agency to abdicate its one-time role as a driver of critical technology.

There are some flaws. For one, while it's true that North American capacity is a fraction of what it was say, six years ago, it is likely that U.S. firms can produce far more PCB product each year than would be needed by the DoD. According to IPC, the U.S. produced $2.2 billion worth of circuit boards in 1984. Adjusted for inflation, that's just $3.04 billion in 2003 dollars. Last year PCB makers in North America produced between $4 and $5 billion worth of boards. Meanwhile, military procurement of bare boards has historically been 10% or less of the U.S. PCB market.

Second, while the NAS correctly notes the product mix of PCBs has shifted (somewhat) to consumer applications, the military has never been the major buyer of circuit boards. In fact, computers and communications have long been the leading users.

And it incorrectly concludes that the DoD's policy to procure from commercial manufacturers is becoming difficult to implement for many PCB applications. On the contrary, the emergence of low-cost competition elsewhere has driven many longtime (and large) commercial manufacturers such as Sanmina-SCI and Photocircuits to obtain certifications for building military products. The Defense Supply Center Columbus' list of qualified manufacturers now numbers more than 25 rigid manufacturers and 50 flex producers.

Where the NAS hits the proverbial nail on the head is by pointing out that DoD requirements have become more sophisticated and generally call for very high reliability boards capable of withstanding long periods of inactivity followed by use in extreme conditions. This runs counter to the throwaway product much of the world produces.

In its report, NAS recommended that military planning groups review the need for existing or new PCB technology as required to field effective defense systems, and to examine the "threat potentially posed" by a lack of access to high-quality and "trusted" PCB technology. NAS also encouraged the DoD to develop materials and processes for PCBs needed for secure defense systems, and to ensure the security of its supply chain. It also pushed for the establishment of a network of competing, globally competitive shops that can be trusted to manufacture secure systems.

To that last point, chilling words of warning on Dobbs came from David Bertaud, chair of the National Research Council committee that prepared the report (the NRC is part of the NAS). "What we're only now beginning to suspect," Bertaud told Dobbs, "is that someone could embed in the [board] a capability to disrupt, to plant a Trojan horse … or even just to disable it at an unspecified or specified point in time."

Believe it or not, this column is not about whether the U.S. military has access to an ample supply of circuit boards. Rather, it's to point out how this issue symbolizes the ability of North American producers of electronics to push their agenda in front of Congress.

Today it's PCBs. Tomorrow it might be stricter environmental laws that threaten to financially choke our businesses without doing one thing to improve the air we breathe or water we drink. Whatever the case, the electronics industry needs to establish a rainy day fund that would be used to grease the right palms in Washington. It must decide on a unified platform. And it must be at the ready to present that platform to Washington, be it via TV talking heads like Dobbs or directly through its own financial heft.

Moving on. Circuits Assembly is moving a few blocks west this month. Our new address is 2400 Lake Park Drive, Ste. 440, Smyrna, GA 30080. We'll post the new phone and fax numbers on circuitsassembly.com as soon as we know them.