Former Trump officials: Strong intellectual perty tections are crucial to America’s national securityBy Kenneth BraithwaiteBy Andrei IancuBy Kenneth BraithwaiteBy Andrei Iancu Kenneth Braithwaite is the former U.S.
secretary of the Navy and U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway. Andrei Iancu served as the undersecretary of Commerce for intellectual perty and director of the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office from 2018 to 2021.
He is co-founder and co-chairman of the Council for Innovation motion.Kenneth Braithwaite, then he was nominee for navy secretary, speaking during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearingMay 7, 2020 in Washington, D.C.
Al Drago-Pool/Getty ImagesIf America loses its next war, the reason won’t be enemy firepower. It will be our failure to tect the intellectual perty (IP) rights that fuel ground innovation.
Experts warn that to counter rising threats from China and other adversaries, the United States must stay ahead in defense-critical fields artificial intelligence, drones, and quantum computing.
But innovation requires investment, and investors won’t bet on new nology unless they’re confident their IP is secure.
Put simply, without strong, enforceable IP rights, we risk crippling the R&D that keeps America safe. breakthrough nologies routinely takes years — sometimes decades — and billions of dollars.
Success stories grab headlines, but most efforts end in failure.
Patents vide a crucial incentive by giving creators exclusive rights to their inventions for a set period, ensuring that others cannot simply copy and fit from their hard work.
The importance of IP tections isn’t theoretical. Patents directly boost growth, job creation, and nological advancement.
A study reported on by the National Bureau of Economic Re found that a firm’s apval of its first patent leads to a 36% jump in employment growth and a 51% surge in sales over five years.
Startups that win that first patent also innovate more, ducing 49% more patents down the road. These findings aren’t surprising.
Without patent rights, an innovator could spend years a novel nology only to have a competitor swoop in and steal their invention at the eleventh hour.
As a result, most startups would struggle to raise the outside investment necessary to bring mising — yet early-stage — ideas to fruition. However, with a patent in hand, everything changes.
Strong IP tections vide security, making investors more willing to support risky R&D efforts.
The of is in the numbers: Startups with patents secure, on average, almost 75% more funding from venture capital deals than those without, empowering them to refine and scale their innovations.
Our world-class patent system has fueled the development of countless life-enhancing, even life-saving, ducts ranging from medicines and renewable energy nologies to weapons-grade materials and powerful computer software.
Strengthening it is the surest way to ensure that America leads in the nologies that will define the geopolitical landscape of the 21st century.
Trouble brewing But there’s trouble brewing on the horizon.
Instead of strengthening this ven system, some activists want to weaken it under the guise of “lowering prices.” posals to seize patents from universities and hand American-made nology to foreign competitors have undermined the private sector’s confidence in patents.
Similarly, legal loopholes and outdated patent eligibility rules have made it harder for disruptive startups to tect their ideas from theft.
Meanwhile, China is taking the opposite apach, strengthening its system to gain a strategic advantage in mission-critical fields.
Beijing has established specialized patent courts and tweaked eligibility rules to encourage investment in critical areas where U.S. patent law is lagging.
They’ve also made a number of reforms to make it easier for inventors to assert their IP rights. By prioritizing innovation-friendly policies, China is positioning itself to outpace the U.S.
in emerging nologies. The consequences are .
China now leads the United States in 57 of 64 key nology fields, according to a State Department-funded study from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Defense analysts warn that, if war broke out today, America’s nological disadvantage could be catastrophic. Strengthening IP rights isn’t just national security — it’s economic security.
IP-intensive industries drive 41% of U.S. economic output and account for 63 million jobs.
President Trump’s first-term national security strategy put it plainly: “A growing and innovative economy allows the United States to maintain the world’s most powerful military and tect our land.” More recently, he’s called for “reviv[ing] our Industrial Base, with priority on Defense-critical industries.” President Trump is right: America’s ability to deter war — or win one, if a fight becomes inevitable — depends on regaining and then maintaining a nological edge.
His administration has the power to drive investment in new nologies that safeguard our national security.
To do so, the administration must ensure that the United States issues strong, reliable, and enforceable IP rights and that companies can keep those rights once issued.
To do that, we must strengthen our patent system. That means stronger tections for inventors, fairer enforcement, and a renewed commitment — both in word and in deed — to moting innovation.
Our national security depends on it.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com ary pieces are solely the views of their and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world.
Explore this year's list.