Today, Condoleezza Rice appears on Fox News to discuss how best to manage artificial intelligence, rogue agents and all, as well as her view of how the Iran conflict ends. Three Hoover podcast episodes have been selected as finalists for Signal Awards. And Hoover scholars explore high-skilled migration’s impact on US workers, and the Proposition 42 California ballot initiative.
Artificial Intelligence, and Iran
Appearing on The Will Cain Show on Fox News on Monday, Hoover Institution Director Condoleezza Rice offered her view on the emerging debate about whether to slow AI development and the American endgame concerning Iran. Her view of how to handle AI development falls “somewhere between ‘it’s going to eat us all,’ which is what Hollywood seems to think, and ‘we can just let this all go on its own’; someplace between those is actually the truth,” she said. She said part of the solution will involve the frontier AI labs sharing information on emerging risks and issues with the government proactively in a way that does not slow the pace of innovation. Pivoting to Iran, Rice said the US needs to keep the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in place, which could eventually impose costs on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is heavily invested in Iran’s economy and will soon face ruin. Watch the conversation here.
Hoover Podcasts
Three Hoover Podcasts Secure Signal Awards Finalist Slots
The Hoover Institution is pleased to announce that three of its recent podcast productions have been selected as finalists in the 5th Annual Signal Awards. Judged by a distinguished panel of podcast hosts, producers, and other industry professionals, the Signal Awards recognize “the podcasts that define culture.” The Hoover Institution’s 2026 Signal Finalists are: Indra Nooyi on Leadership and Innovation at PepsiCo, in the Thought Leadership category, Basketball In the Last 60 Seconds: Ben Sasse on Mortality, Meaning, and the Future of America, in the Best Video Podcast Guest category, and GoodFellows: Conversations on Economics, History & Geopolitics in the Best Video Podcast Co-Host Team category.
Vote for these productions to receive a “listener’s choice” award by clicking the links above.
Immigration
In a new paper for Hoover Immigration, Isabel Lopez Ysmael explores the oft-argued position that legal high-skilled migration to the US enables immigrants to take jobs from US workers. It's a common worry, and not entirely unfounded. But she finds that most Americans come out ahead—wages tend to rise and the benefits spread well beyond the industries that hire foreign talent. Restrictions, meanwhile, harm US competitiveness and weaken growth across the economy. Hoover Immigration also has new research about the relative education levels and top work sectors of active H-1B visa holders in the US versus the total working population, as well as a new demographic breakdown of successful petitioners. Read more here.
California Decides
In a new Proposition Lab, Hoover scholars explain the contents of Proposition 42: The Retirement and Personal Savings Protection Act of 2026. If passed in November, first, it would prohibit any new taxes on personal property—both tangible (i.e., personal belongings) and intangible (savings, retirement accounts, financial assets, business ownership, intellectual property, etc.)—while leaving existing property taxes untouched. In effect, this would require that the California legislature get voters’ approval before creating any new property taxes. Second, it would prohibit new taxes that impose liability for past residency or conduct, with a narrow exception allowing taxes to reach back up to 365 days if tied to a governor-declared emergency and dedicated to addressing it. If passed, this proposition would effectively nullify Prop 40: The Billionaire Tax Act. Read more here.
Freedom Frequency
Europe’s prosperity and stability remain greatly important to the United States, and the European economy is crucial to the global balance of power, writes Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Peter Rough in Freedom Frequency. Russia, aiming to separate Ukraine from its backers, increasingly menaces Europe’s security with nuclear saber-rattling and hybrid warfare. But Russia, its forces degraded by war, is nearing an economic crisis. Its soft power also is slipping along its periphery, even with China. Within Europe, the north and the south are diverging over policy, security, and trade: northern nations, for instance, feel the Russian threat most acutely. Around the continent, historical rivalries are returning and are likely to cause tensions to rise. And Europe is now experiencing its own “China shock”—with the shocks to German industry hitting hardest. The United States must grasp the fact that China is trying to separate it from Europe—and respond. Read more here.
Revitalizing History
Everyone quotes Thucydides—but are we getting him right? Historian Andrew Novo joins Secrets of Statecraft host and Distinguished Visiting Fellow Andrew Roberts to explore what the chronicler of Athens and Sparta really tells us about war, democracy, ambition, and human nature. From the disastrous invasion of Sicily to today’s rivalry between America and China, they examine how leaders wield power, how democracies lose their way, and why history’s most memorable lines can teach the wrong lessons when stripped of context. Watch the episode here.
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