Defense Production Act The Defense Production Act ( ) is a United States law enacted on September 8 , 1950 , in response to the start of the Korean War . It was part of a broad civil defense and war mobilization effort in the context of the Cold War . Its implementing regulations , the Defense Priorities and Allocation System ( DPAS ) , are located at 15 CFR § § 700 to 700 . 93 . The Act has been periodically reauthorized and amended , and remains in force as of 2012 . The Act contains three major sections . The first authorizes the President to require businesses to sign contracts or fulfill orders deemed necessary for national defense . The second authorizes the President to establish mechanisms ( such as regulations , orders or agencies ) to allocate materials , services and facilities to promote national defense . The third section authorizes the President to control the civilian economy so that scarce and / or critical materials necessary to the national defense effort are available for defense needs . The Act also authorizes the President to requisition property , force industry to expand production and the supply of basic resources , impose wage and price controls , settle labor disputes , control consumer and real estate credit , establish contractual priorities , and allocate raw materials to aid the national defense . The President ' s authority to place contracts under the DPA is the part of the Act most often used by the Department of Defense ( DOD ) since the 1970s . Most of the other functions of the Act are administered by the Office of Strategic Industries and Economic Security ( SIES ) in the Bureau of Industry and Security in the Department of Commerce . Korean War - era usage . The DPA was used during the Korean War to establish a large defense mobilization infrastructure and bureaucracy . Under the authority of the Act , President Harry S . Truman established the Office of Defense Mobilization , instituted wage and price controls , strictly regulated production in heavy industries such as steel and mining , and ordered the dispersal of wartime manufacturing plans across the nation . The Act also played a vital role in the establishment of the domestic aluminum and titanium industries in the 1950s . Using the Act , DOD provided capital and interest - free loans , and directed mining and manufacturing resources as well as skilled laborers to these two processing industries . Cold War - era usage . The DPA was used sporadically during the Cold War . 21st century usage . In 2011 it was reported that the law was invoked to force telecommunications companies , under criminal penalties , to provide detailed equipment outlines to the Commerce Department ’ s Bureau of Industry and Security . Use as innovation tool . Beginning in the 1980s , DOD began using the contracting and spending provisions of the DPA to provide seed money to develop new technologies . Using the Act , DOD has helped to develop a number of new technologies and materials , including silicon carbide ceramics , indium phosphide and gallium arsenide semiconductor s , microwave power tubes , radiation - hardened microelectronics , superconducting wire , and metal composites .