Rethinking Corporate Risk and Alignment in an Era of Economic Statecraft

By: General Timothy Ray, USAF (Ret.) | President & CEO of Business Executives for National Security

In Sept. 2010, following a collision between a Chinese trawler and Japanese coast guard vessels near the Senkaku Islands, Chinese authorities halted shipments of rare earth minerals to Japan. The move disrupted supply chains for everything from consumer electronics to advanced defense systems, driving immediate shortages and cost spikes.

At the time, many treated the episode as a discrete diplomatic flare-up. In retrospect, it was an early demonstration of something larger: that economic interdependence could be weaponized, and that the systems underpinning global commerce were becoming instruments of strategic competition.

When I joined Business Executives for National Security as CEO two and a half years ago, following a career in the U.S. Air Force that culminated in commanding Air Force Global Strike Command, I thought I understood the challenge. Like many who have spent their careers in government and uniform, I assumed much of the task would involve reconnecting business leaders to national security risks they had grown too distant from and helping the government understand more effective tools used in the private sector. The implied theory of change was straightforward: Government defines the problem and the private sector helps deliver the solution…