Pentagon Proposes Rule Requiring USA Flags It Buys to Be 100% USA-Made

The U.S. Department of Defense proposed a rule in late February 2015 requiring any U.S. flag it buys to be made in the USA, including the flag’s materials and components. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., wrote the funding provision behind the rule. He announced the Pentagon’s action in early March.

What the rule does

The rule amends the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS Case 2015-D005). It treats flags like items covered by the Berry Amendment, a 1941 law that bars Defense Department funds from buying food, clothing, fabrics and certain other items not grown or produced in the USA, with limited exceptions.

The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on February 26, 2015. It carries out flag provisions in the Defense Department appropriations acts for fiscal years 2014 and 2015. The rule does not cover flagpoles or other equipment used to fly or display a flag.

Thompson’s provision

Thompson’s provision passed as part of the fiscal 2014 omnibus appropriations bill, which was signed in January 2014. Before it, flags were not a covered item under the Berry Amendment.

“As a veteran myself, I am proud that because of this legislation, our brave men and women in uniform will never again have to serve under a non-American made U.S. flag,” Thompson said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs was already required to buy USA-made flags for service members’ funerals.

What came next

The comment period closed on April 27, 2015, and the Pentagon issued the final rule effective August 26, 2015. Because the provision depended on yearly appropriations acts, lawmakers kept pushing to make it permanent. A requirement was later written into the fiscal 2024 defense authorization law (our coverage).