The Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) has announced the National Security Fund Finance (NSFF) program, a new credit initiative aimed at shoring up U.S. critical minerals and materials that sit behind core national security technologies. Rather than adding another grant program for operators, NSFF is built to push capital into the system at the fund level, using Pentagon‑backed loans to crowd in private investment where traditional finance has been hesitant to go.
Enabled by funding under President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, NSFF will provide direct loans and potentially other financial tools to qualified credit fund managers, who then combine that capital with their own private funds to invest in portfolios of companies addressing shortages, gaps, and vulnerabilities in critical minerals and related materials.
What We Know So Far
OSC’s mandate is to attract and scale private capital into critical technologies and supply chains that matter for U.S. military advantage, from applied AI and biomanufacturing to contested logistics and advanced energy systems. NSFF fits into that mission as a targeted initiative for critical minerals and associated industrial capabilities.
Based on OSC’s public statements to date, NSFF is expected to:
- Provide capital support to credit funds focused on U.S. critical minerals and materials
- Blend OSC loans with private capital to scale projects along the critical minerals value chain
- Target chokepoints in extraction, processing, advanced materials, and components feeding defense and dual use applications
Crucially, NSFF is not a program where operating companies apply directly to OSC. The office lends to fund managers, who then deploy capital into project portfolios that align with OSC’s investment strategy and national security priorities.
OSC has indicated that a formal Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) will be released soon, with the application link and program details to be posted on its website once live.
Why This Program Matters for Critical Minerals
Critical minerals underpin a wide range of defense‑relevant technologies: advanced manufacturing, microelectronics, energy storage, directed energy systems, and more. These are capital‑intensive sectors with long development timelines and nontrivial permitting, infrastructure, and market risk. Traditional project finance and equity alone often struggle to bridge the gap between strategic importance and commercial returns.
NSFF is meant to address that mismatch by de‑risking large investments and signaling federal commitment to specific parts of the supply chain. When OSC provides a loan at the fund level, it can improve the overall capital stack for projects, making it easier for private credit and equity to follow without expecting defense contracts alone to carry the economics.
For mining, processing, materials, and advanced manufacturing companies, the immediate takeaway is not “apply to NSFF,” but “understand how your projects could fit inside an NSFF‑backed fund thesis.” That includes being able to articulate how a given facility, line, or capability reduces supply chain risk, strengthens domestic production, or supports one of the Department of War’s six Critical Technology Areas.
What Fund Managers and Operators Can Start Doing Now
Until the NOFO is out, there are a few practical moves that make sense:
- Fund managers can start mapping whether a dedicated or expanded vehicle focused on critical minerals aligns with OSC’s investment strategy and their own investor base. That includes thinking through portfolio construction, risk sharing, and how OSC loans would sit in the capital structure.
- Operators can flag current and planned projects that touch critical minerals or related supply chains, identify large capital needs (new facilities, expansions, processing lines, advanced materials capabilities), and frame them in terms of national security impact rather than only commercial metrics.
- Both sides should keep a close eye on OSC updates, so they are ready to move quickly once NSFF application details and timelines are published.
The teams best positioned to benefit will be those that have already done the work of translating their projects into the language OSC uses every day: supply chain resilience, strategic materials, critical technology areas, and crowding in private capital to close specific national security gaps.
EverGlade is a national advisory firm helping innovators navigate the federal funding ecosystem. We support companies across the funding lifecycle, from early-stage strategy through proposal development, negotiations, and post-award execution, ensuring you win the award and deliver the program.
For additional information on where your capabilities could plug into NSFF or other OSC and federal financing tools, schedule a conversation with our team.
