CSIS analysis of critical minerals in development and security contexts, examining the strategic logic behind US and allied mineral supply policies and the risks of narrow classification frameworks that leave foundational materials unprotected. The paper’s observation that “disfavoring certain minerals could inhibit innovation and create shortages down the line” applies with direct force to the EU CRM methodology: materials excluded from the criticality list because current self-sufficiency suppresses their assessed supply risk receive no policy protection, yet their long-run availability cannot be assumed if the industrial capacity sustaining them is allowed to contract.