Last month, the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) released a report that found America's preparedness for serious emergencies is at risk due to the offshoring of critical manufacturing sectors and a reliance on foreign suppliers.

The report, which was co-authored by Gov. Tom Ridge, the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Col. Robert B. Stephan, a former Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection, concluded that the U.S. must revitalize its manufacturing capacity to reduce such vulnerability.

Forbes reports that this view is shared by Ro Khanna, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the Obama Administration.

Khanna said that during his two years in the Commerce Department, he visited dozens of U.S. manufacturers.  Seeing the productivity of America's industrial base firsthand convinced him that re-establishing a manufacturing base should be a bipartisan issue.  In fact, Khanna sees it as a national security issue.

Among Khanna's key concerns is the possibility of America "losing the capacity to innovate on the production side of manufacturing."

Khanna also says that China's predatory trade practices are a problem that must be confronted:

It is wrong for China to provide free land and free rent to their own industries, that’s a blatant violation of the WTO, as well as manipulating their own currency. They’re also restricting access to their own market, depriving their own consumers of American products that they may want.

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