Throughout the comprehensive report are vivid descriptions of a proud industry facing hard times. With 93,000 aerospace jobs lost in 2002, the industry is now operating at its lowest employment level since 1953.

Despite early fame as a showcase for homegrown skills and technology, the report finds today's industry regularly trading U.S. jobs and technology to clinch one-time foreign business deals.

The low point of such transactions remains Boeing's $4.4 billion sale of F-15 fighter jets to South Korea. To seal the deal, Boeing agreed to a host of "offsets," side deals that included the permanent transfer of wing and fuselage work once done by aerospace workers in St. Louis.

IAM President Tom Buffenbarger, who served as the sole labor representative on the presidential commission, addressed the consequences of such deals for U.S. national security in a blistering dissent.

"Already our commercial aircraft have been used as weapons against us. Relying on suppliers in South Korea, China, Mexico or Malaysia to provide our country's armed forces with parts and material in the midst of a crisis is a recipe for disaster."

"This industry, built by innovative U.S. companies and a highly skilled U.S. workforce, must not become the latest casualty of a corporate culture that owes allegiance to no country," said Buffenbarger.

The IAM's dissent called for the use of economic impact statements to measure the effect of government programs on U.S. aerospace employment.

"Taxpayers should know if their hard-earned dollars are going to support good jobs at home or are going to create jobs in other countries," said Buffenbarger.