Today, John Deutch and David Fedor call for a comprehensive reassessment of America’s approach to national security and defense policy; John Taylor reflects on the origins and impact of the influential Mont Pelerin Society; and Margaret Raymond shares stories and takeaways from Hoover’s Unheard Voices Project, which featured interviews with education stakeholders across the country.
National Security
A new essay by Distinguished Visiting Fellow John Deutch and Policy Fellow David Fedor argues that the current US national security structure, designed for the Cold War era, is ill-suited for today's strategic competition era. The modern landscape is characterized by simultaneous rivalry with China and Russia—a less stable tripolar nuclear state—a reality that is not well addressed by the United States’ 20th-century approach to geopolitics. This essay addresses the radical changes needed in defense policies, institutions, and expenditures to confront this challenge. Deutch, a former director of central intelligence, and Fedor, who worked closely for years with the late George P. Shultz, argue that the current geopolitical transition is not a policy choice but rather a new reality demanding immediate changes to defense policies, institutions, and budgets to protect US and allied interests.
Unpack how today’s geopolitical shifts are changing the requirements for American national security.
Library & Archives
In a new episode of Reflections from the Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Senior Fellow Emeritus John B. Taylor recounts the founding of the Mont Pelerin Society in a village in Switzerland in 1947. The idea was the brainchild of economist Friedrich von Hayek, best known for his 1944 book, The Road to Serfdom. Hayek convened a small group of economists and other thinkers to discuss ways to defend free-market capitalism at a time when the appeal of socialist central planning was ascendant. Among the participants were economists Ludwig von Mises and Milton Friedman, as well as political philosopher Karl Popper.
Listen to John Taylor recount the origins of this renowned organization dedicated to individual liberty.
Reforming Education
“I thought the shocking and dispiriting story we heard in our first community conversation would likely turn out to be an outlier,” Margaret Raymond writes at The74, reflecting on her nine conversations with 82 parents and community members across the country as part of Hoover’s Unheard Voices Project. But outlier it was not. Raymond relates how the project, “focused on communities with public schools that persistently performed at the bottom of their state’s distribution,” uncovered numerous cases where community participants “reported ostracism and persistent refusal of school leaders to engage with local stakeholders.” Some even declined to participate in discussions due to fear of reprisals. Raymond encourages state and local leaders to “lean in to partnering with disconnected stakeholders,” noting how these partners can help improve schools and communities. “A motivated community is a terrible thing to waste,” Raymond says.
How community stakeholders can make their voices heard for the benefit of their local schools.
Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies
The Federal Reserve, founded in 1913, has experienced a century of shifts between minimal oversight and political pressure. But after the turbulent 1970s, it became clear that more-independent central banks did offer the benefits of lower inflation without sacrificing growth, Senior Fellows John H. Cochrane and Valerie A. Ramey argue in this essay for Freedom Frequency. Yet in a democracy, they point out, a completely independent institution is unsuitable. Created by Congress, the Fed must respect checks and balances even as it manages inevitable political pressures. Cochrane and Ramey argue that the time is right for the Fed to rein in the scope of its activities and return to its proper mandate, while keeping its hard-earned form of autonomy.
See why the right balance of central bank independence and political accountability is crucial for the US economy.
Confronting and Competing with China
In an op-ed for CommonWealth Magazine, Distinguished Visiting Fellow Matthew Pottinger and coauthor Seamus Boyle “explore a few lessons Taiwan should take to heart from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.” This piece comes on the eve of an important vote in Taiwan’s legislature on that island’s defense budget, over which the opposition KMT party is internally divided. “First,” say Boyle and Pottinger, “Taiwan’s opposition should remember how Ukraine and Iran’s mass production of aerial and sea drones helped deny two of the world’s most powerful navies—Russia’s and America’s—from operating in the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf, respectively.” The authors also emphasize the importance of multilayered air defenses and “formidable offensive capabilities” to deter potential aggressors. Pottinger and Boyle conclude that applying these lessons by passing a strong defense budget “will enhance Taiwan’s ability to deter aggression and to deal with Beijing from a position of strength.”
How Taiwan’s defense budgeting choices will impact its self-defense capabilities.
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