Flat panels are the display screens used in laptop computers and a new generation of camcorders.
In recent years, the federal government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to develop an American-based display business, with various Pentagon agencies providing the lion's share of the money. The Pentagon's plan has been to create an American industry that sells to both the military as well as the much larger commercial electronics market. Pentagon planners have argued that relying on Japan for most flat panels is a security threat to the United States. But with flat panels increasingly becoming a commodity item, the OTA questioned the Pentagon's logic. For one, it said, Korea and Taiwan are both developing active flat-panel industries, resulting in second and third sources for the devices.