WASHINGTON, April 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- It wasn’t classified. It wasn’t forgotten. It was simply never brought up.

According to Jim Rickards—former CIA advisor and national security strategist—one of America’s most significant resources is seemingly never included in any public policy conversations.

“Not in debt talks. Not in stimulus debates. Not even in emergency planning,” Rickards says. “But it’s real. It’s massive. And it’s been waiting for this moment.”

That “quiet asset,” as Rickards calls it, is a federally protected reserve of critical raw materials—buried beneath U.S. soil, locked under legal code since Reconstruction, and shielded from use by layers of bureaucratic power.

Now, following a Supreme Court ruling in 2024, he believes the silence is about to end.

THE RESOURCE NO ONE WAS ALLOWED TO MENTION

Created under Title 30 of the U.S. Code, the original intent of the reserve wasn’t to fuel short-term profit or policy — but to preserve leverage for a time of national urgency. That time, Rickards argues, is now.

“It’s not gold. It’s not oil. It’s the stuff that powers the backbone of the next century,” Rickards explains. “And America has more of it than we’ve ever admitted.”

The list includes copper, lithium, silver, and rare earths — resources essential to defense, infrastructure, digital tech, and AI manufacturing.

LEGAL SILENCE BREAKS IN 2024

For decades, Rickards says, regulatory agencies were able to block any attempt to access these resources. But the Chevron Doctrine — the legal foundation that practically gave agencies unchecked authority — was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

“For the first time in modern history, the law favors the people, not the bureaucracy,” Rickards says.
“The gate that kept this asset out of reach is now wide open.”

WHY THIS MATTERS RIGHT NOW

As global tensions rise and foreign control of supply chains deepens, Rickards believes the U.S. can no longer afford to keep its most strategic advantage off the table.

“We are watching countries weaponize their resources,” he warns. “Meanwhile, we’ve been sitting on the answer. Quietly. For over 160 years.”

He describes the reserve as a built-in fallback—a legacy of strategic thinking from a time when America planned for the long haul.

“It’s not just a resource,” Rickards says. “It’s a second chance.”

About Jim Rickards

Jim Rickards is a lawyer, economist, and bestselling author with over four decades of experience advising the U.S. intelligence community, the Pentagon, and the Treasury Department. He is the author of Currency Wars, The Death of Money, and The Road to Ruin, and is widely recognized for exposing financial blind spots and systemic vulnerabilities before they reach the public eye.

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