April 27, 2026

Whether the United States can keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and win the competition with China will not be decided solely by aircraft carriers, missiles or defense budgets. It will also be decided by the country’s ability to quickly restock its now-depleted munitions supplies and build the physical foundations of power and defense needed for modern warfare. That starts with retooling the permitting process that approves — or, more often, holds up — major power generation, mining and other critical infrastructure and defense-related projects.

For years, a broken permitting system has choked the infrastructure growth that underwrites American strength. A maze of reviews, bureaucracy and litigation delays or even blocks crucial projects. The SunZia transmission line, for instance, transports power throughout the southwestern United States. Construction began in 2023 and is expected to finish this year, but the permitting process took nearly 17 years — almost six times as long.

Such permitting delays are routine, and they come with a high price. According to a McKinsey estimate, up to $1.5 trillion in investment for projects is sitting idle, awaiting federal permit approval. If approved, these projects could add $1.7 trillion to $2.4 trillion to the country’s GDP and help blunt global energy shocks caused by oil supply volatility.

Even after agencies approve a project, activists and trial lawyers can still use the courts to block it. Beginning in 2017, lawsuits stonewalled construction for six years on the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which transports natural gas through Virginia and West Virginia. The project became so bogged down in litigation that Congress was forced to intervene to mandate the pipeline’s construction.

A nation that cannot build power plants cannot lead in artificial intelligence, nor can it provide affordable and reliable energy to households, manufacturers or defense facilities. A nation that cannot build liquefied natural gas export terminals cannot supply troops stationed overseas. And a nation that cannot approve permits for mines and processing facilities cannot build batteries, drones, communications systems or precision weapons.

The U.S.’s permitting process is not merely inconvenient. These delays undermine the country’s ability to build with speed and confidence.

It was not always difficult to build in America. For example, in 1933, construction began on the Golden Gate Bridge in Northern California. Spanning 1.7 miles long and weighing nearly 900,000 tons, the completed bridge opened to the public just over four years after breaking ground. Or consider the Interstate Highway System. Its construction began under President Eisenhower in 1956. By the time the system was completed in 1992, the U.S. had constructed more than 40,000 miles of highway.

Today, the U.S. permitting system would make these achievements next to impossible. Bridge construction on a scale comparable to San Francisco’s four-year engineering feat would now likely take a decade or longer. And if the U.S. tried to build a national network of highways today, it would not be completed in any American’s lifetime. A nation that cannot build cannot remain a superpower. Right now, the U.S. risks regulating itself into defeat.

The solution starts at home. The U.S. needs more electricity to support data centers, modern manufacturing, defense infrastructure and economic growth. It needs domestic access to critical minerals and the facilities that process them. It needs a stronger industrial base, more resilient supply chains and the capacity to move energy and materials where they are needed. And the U.S. needs them now, before it falls further behind.

To achieve these aims, the country needs straightforward, enforceable permitting standards and fast, efficient construction. First, major environmental laws — such as the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Endangered Species Act — need to be streamlined and simplified. Second, a single agency should oversee permitting reviews with firm deadlines and a clear, coordinated decision process. Third, to avoid unnecessary time in court, there should be limits on duplicative lawsuits and shorter statutes of limitations.

The U.S. cannot sanction its way out of project delays, tied-up investments and endless litigation. It cannot subsidize its way out, either. If the U.S. wants to remain the world’s dominant superpower, then the country must overhaul its permitting system to outbuild, outmatch and outcompete its adversaries.