In this edition, members of the Hoover Institution’s Jean Perkins Task Force on National Security and Law deftly explore the complex considerations—technological, legal, political, and strategic—that should inform government’s ability to conduct electronic surveillance and keep secrets while protecting citizens’ rights and ensuring democratic accountability.

The Hoover Institution’s Foreign Policy Working Group examines the array of challenges confronting the United States across the globe including the rise of a potential competitor, a rate of technological advances unseen since the nineteenth century, the proliferation of nuclear and biological capabilities, and the enduring threat of transnational terrorism. The group’s goal is to map the current policy terrain so as to arrive at a better understanding of those challenges and the means with which to address them.

Is it possible today to craft a single, grand strategy that would allow the United States to shape a radically changing world? This essay series, drawing on work from the group’s first meeting on October 18, 2013, dedicates itself to that question and to examining the components and viability of such a strategy. You can read the essays on Scribd or download them here.