With the things that are taking place today, I would have to say yes. Very dry indeed...
The reality is that when Magnequench was sold there were only a few years left on the patents. It is common practice in business to sell patents in this manner because it allows the buyer to penetrate and gain market share before the patent expires. This is old technology. While it may have defense applications it is more important for battery powered hand tools. Plus, at the time, and continuing today, there is a huge amount of infringement taking place.
The second piece if misinfo in the article is that the US is totally dependent on China to mine the rare earths. In a few days there will be an companion article published at Sierra Times about how the feds/EPA/BLM shut down Molycorp's Mountain Pass mine, ending the US's ability to produce rare earths. Bull crap. Molycorps settling ponds on BLM land were shut down because of the egregious spill. Those settling ponds, along with Molycorps entire mining and processing operations are now located on Molycorp's private property. As such, San Bernedino county is the lead agency in permitting, not EPA. As such, only an environmental impact assesement, rather than statement is required. Whatever Molycorp wants, the county will give them.
The truth is that Molycorp has no interest in gaining their thirty year permit/restarting operations since rare earth prices are depressed because of a worldwide oversupply.