Today, John Cochrane reflects on the economic wisdom and legacy of Alexander Hamilton; H.R. McMaster and Drew Endy each testify before different congressional committees on their areas of expertise; and a new episode of Today’s Battlegrounds places McMaster in conversation with Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radek Sikorski.
Library & Archives
Join Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson and Colin Stinson, head of preservation at Hoover’s Library & Archives, for the first-ever screening of newly digitized nitrate films held at the archives. Until now, the chemically volatile film reels have been held in freezers, and many have not been viewed since their creation. The films will be screened in Hoover’s Hauck Auditorium on July 30 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Viewers can expect glimpses of WWII military operations, early 20th-century life across Russia, Japan, and Indonesia, American industrial development, and even a 1933 heavyweight boxing championship match. Read more here.
USA@250
Writing for the Founders & Fellows series at Freedom Frequency, Senior Fellow John H. Cochrane illuminates Alexander Hamilton’s foresight in grasping the uses of government debt. Holding, managing, and (always) paying off financial obligations would set the newborn United States on a sound footing, Hamilton realized—provided that debt was “well funded.” Government debt behaves like money, Cochrane points out, since it lets the government hunt for efficiency and avoid scrambling for cash. In the modern global economy, the dominance of the US dollar is the bedrock of a flourishing financial system, he says. Hamilton’s insights carry over into today’s world, Cochrane argues, through warnings that governments should resist the temptation to shirk repayment of their debts. Cochrane also says that the Hamilton legacy should lead policymakers to refuse “just this once” tax and spending schemes. Read more here.
Fellows Speak to Congress
Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster was on Capitol Hill today, speaking to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about current and emerging threats to American national security—and what policymakers should do to mitigate those threats. McMaster organized his remarks around four principal threats: an axis of hostile aggressor states, disruptive technologies, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) economic aggression, and political subversion and cognitive warfare. The former national security advisor called for adaptation within the intelligence community to monitor and provide early warning of these threats. In his conclusion, noting the upcoming quarter-century anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, McMaster emphasized that international terror organizations like Hamas and the Taliban remain serious threats that defense and intelligence agencies must continue to root out abroad, in partnership with allies. Read more here.
Senior Fellow Drew Endy testified today before the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Manufacturing, and Competitiveness on the steps needed to preserve or regain American leadership in biotechnology. “Unlocking biology as a general-purpose technology could add up to a third to our nation’s GDP, make supply chain and manufacturing resilience real for most physical inputs to our economy, help secure Americans and others from biological threats, and create a foundation of optionality underlying economic and political freedom at home and abroad,” Endy said. But he cautions that US leadership depends on policymakers taking a long-term view of foundational investments in biotech. Endy also says, “NIST needs a fully resourced Biological Measurement Laboratory (BML) for all of biology,” akin to the Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML) for physics, and the Material Measurement Laboratory (MML) for chemistry. Read more here.
Security and Defense
Join Radek Sikorski, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of Poland, and Senior Fellow H.R. McMaster as they discuss the future of NATO deterrence, the US-Poland strategic partnership’s role in securing Europe, and what a successful outcome in Ukraine would mean for European security and the defense of democratic nations. The conversation examines Poland’s remarkable transformation since the end of the Cold War; the challenges posed by Russian hybrid warfare and Chinese economic practices; and the importance of energy security, resilient supply chains, and technological innovation. Sikorski and McMaster also discuss developments in the Middle East, transatlantic trade and cooperation, and the leadership required to strengthen democratic societies and navigate an increasingly competitive international environment. Watch or listen here.
War with Iran
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In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Military History Working Group contributor Reuel Marc Gerecht and coauthor Ray Takeyh argue that “Tehran has a wartime advantage over Washington because the ruling Iranian elite wants to fight and has been willing to endure far more pain than Donald Trump has.” Analyzing the current state of the war, the authors say it “won’t be solved by Washington’s bombing more targets or offering more financial concessions to Tehran.” Rather, “the US Navy must reclaim the Gulf and patrol it indefinitely despite the hazards.” If Iranian leadership—which the authors say is unified in response to external threats—believe that the US won’t use force to guarantee international commerce in the Persian Gulf, “the Islamic Republic, not the US, will be the most consequential power in the Middle East.” Read more here.
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