Clinton: Pentagon Must Buy US Goods

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a plan Saturday to keep more military-related manufacturing in the United States, calling it an economic and security priority.

Speaking at a plant here that builds transmissions for military vehicles, Clinton said she would limit the Defense Department's ability to buy foreign-made products, in part by making the agency consider the impact on U.S. jobs when it awards contracts.

The New York senator, seeking support in Indiana's May 6 Democratic presidential primary, said she would launch a "comprehensive review of our defense industrial base" to determine "where U.S. capabilities are lacking." It would involve doubling the Defense Department's basic and applied research operations.

Clinton said she also would:

-Beef up policies that ensure "that technologies and industries critical to U.S. national security are not sold off and outsourced to foreign governments."

-Strengthen policies requiring that certain "vital metals" used in military manufacturing are produced domestically.

-Spend $75 million to create an "Interagency Task Force on Industrial Espionage" to combat existing and potential security threats.

"Because of the Bush administration's failed policies, we're not just outsourcing jobs, we're outsourcing our security," Clinton told workers at the Allison Transmission plant. "We cannot remain a strong, free and prosperous nation if we continue to outsource industries essential to our national defense."