Built for a Crisis: Jim Rickards Reveals the Hidden National Resource Created for America’s Worst-Case Scenario

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — According to former CIA advisor and national security strategist Jim Rickards, a powerful resource built into the fabric of U.S. law was never designed for ordinary times.

It was created for a moment like this.

“This wasn’t some fund they dipped into,” Rickards says. “This was always a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency kind of asset. And now the glass is breaking.”

He’s referring to a rarely discussed reserve embedded in federal law since the late 1800s—one that governs vast quantities of critical materials lying dormant beneath U.S. public lands. According to Rickards, this resource was designed as a contingency mechanism for when the country needed to reset, rebuild, or reassert control.

A Legal Time Capsule, Now Reopened

Created under Title 30 of the U.S. Code, the provision protected a massive reserve of mineral-rich land—set aside during Reconstruction and shielded for generations under federal jurisdiction. But until recently, access to those materials was functionally blocked.

“The government didn’t spend it. They didn’t exploit it. They just locked it away,” Rickards explains.

That changed with a Supreme Court ruling in 2024.

“Trump’s Supreme Court overturned the Chevron Doctrine,” he says. “It essentially gave so-called government experts ‘kill shot’ power. But now—for the first time in half a century—we can go get [these resources]”!

Why This Resource Is Strategic

Rickards says the materials hidden beneath this reserve aren’t theoretical or symbolic—they’re the backbone of 21st-century power.

Lithium. Copper. Silver. Rare earths.

“These aren’t legacy assets. These are future assets,” he says. “Everything from defense to AI to grid stability depends on them.”

While foreign adversaries race to secure supply chains abroad, Rickards believes the U.S. has been sitting on its own solution—just never empowered to use it.

The Emergency Has Arrived

Rickards believes the economic, energy, and geopolitical stress America faces today represents the exact type of crisis this asset was designed for.

“The system that was built to protect the country in moments like this… is finally activating.”

He describes this moment not as a new beginning, but as a return to the original safeguards written into U.S. law—now awakened by necessity.

About Jim Rickards

Jim Rickards is a lawyer, economist, and bestselling author who has advised the CIA, Pentagon, and U.S. Treasury. Over a 40-year career, he has led national-level economic war games and advised U.S. officials during periods of major financial and geopolitical instability. His books include Currency Wars, The Death of Money, and Aftermath.

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Derek Warren
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