As part of our ongoing partnership with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, we spoke with Amy Zegart, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and co-director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, about the effects of spy-themed entertainment on public opinion of U.S. security policies. She conducted two surveys, one informal with her students and another that was the first national poll of public attitudes toward torture techniques. Both had similar results: support of more severe techniques, assassination and indefinite detention increased with people who watched more spy-themed entertainment like James Bond, Jason Bourne and 24. In fact, this support has increased under the Obama presidency. What are the reasons and how do we close the gap in spy-themed entertainment and spy-themed education? Watch the video to find out.

In the final episode of the series for 2020, Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane reflect on lessons learned from the pandemic, Donald Trump’s future, the ruinous state of the Golden State, how society will differ in 2021, plus what gets them through their daily routines—a mixtape of UK punk, Philly-brand funk, and the soothing sounds of “Sweet Baby James” Taylor.

HOOVER INSTITUTION NATIONAL SECURITY SYMPOSIUM

Wait for Election Day. Clinton or Trump may change your mind.

Enacting a carbon tax would free up private firms to find the most efficient ways to cut emissions.

Guests: Henry Miller, Hoover. Olivier Guitta, Henry Jackson Society. Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com. James Taranto, WSJ, 

The Hoover Institution hosted a cyber chat session on February 12, which focuses on the Historical Progression of Cyber Strategy and looks at how US defense cyber strategy has evolved over the last ten years and what paradigms might guide future strategy.

By the early 1960s, the Sino-Soviet alliance began to show signs of strain. Polemical battles were under way, and shortly these battles were beginning to split the international Communist movement. As the rift intensified during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), Mao Zedong elevated the Soviet Union to the rank of social imperialists, while the Red Guards harassed the Soviet diplomatic staff, and border incidents reached a new height.