By Benjamin H. Friedman
At both the beginning and end of his state of the union address last night, the president suggested that the country can solve its problems by modeling itself after the military. Near the start he said: At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, [members of the military] exceed all [...]
The Trouble with the State of the Union: America Is Not a Military Unit is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By John Mueller
At the National Sheriffs’ Association Conference in Washington last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted that riders on the DC Metro system can hear her voice repeatedly promoting her department’s “If You See Something, Say Something” terrorism hotline campaign. “That’s a scary thought,” she suggested. Even scarier to me is the campaign itself. It [...]
A Scary Thought: Do We Really Need “If You See Something, Say Something?” is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Christopher Preble
A recent editorial in the Boston Globe noted with some glee that the Obama administration strategy document released last week included the “acknowledgement that America’s brief and unhappy foray into counterinsurgency operations has come to an end.” The Globe editorialists conclude “Given the checkered history of counterinsurgency, and its cost in lives and money, its [...]
Playing to Our Strengths—and Why COIN Doesn’t is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Christopher Preble
The GOP presidential candidates will participate in yet another debate tonight from South Carolina in anticipation of the primary there on Saturday. I hope that the moderator, CNN’s John King, will bring up some of the major national security issues at hand, namely military spending. Out of all the GOP contenders, it is clear that [...]
Tonight on Stossel: Ron Paul, War, and Military Spending is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Doug Bandow
The death of North Korea’s Kim Jong-il put relations with the rest of the world on hold. But Pyongyang has stirred, reprising its role as international beggar. The new regime, at least nominally headed by Kim’s 28-year-old son, Kim Jong-un, issued its first statement regarding relations with Washington. The United States should send more than [...]
North Korea Reprises Its Role as International Beggar is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Christopher Preble
As David Boaz recently demonstrated, the jeremiads emanating from Washington over proposed cuts in military spending are unfounded. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon’s op-ed in today’s Washington Post is only the latest to decry the “damaging blow to our military” that will be done by “massive defense cuts.” Not only is Pentagon spending not at its [...]
Setting the Record Straight on Military Spending Levels is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Jim Harper
John Mueller was right and everyone else was wrong. (Well, not everyone else…) That’s Cato senior fellow John Mueller. He noted on the National Interest blog last week that 79 per cent of top terrorism experts queried in 2006 thought it was likely or certain that there would be another major terrorist attack in the [...]
Mueller Right; Terror Experts Wrong is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By David Boaz
The Washington Examiner ran this Heritage Foundation chart on January 10 under the title (not online) “Defense spending at lowest levels in 60 years”: Dramatic, eh? It shows defense spending plunging for the past 40 or more years. Except . . . wait a minute . . . has defense spending plunged? This chart from [...]
Misleading Images on Defense Spending is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Jason Kuznicki
In recent years, drone warfare technology has made tremendous strides, allowing modern war to be conducted in many respects by remote control. This may seem like a boon to technologically savvy countries like the United States, and in a sense it clearly is. But the moral calculus of war is rarely that simple. While drones [...]
Drone Warfare at Cato Unbound is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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By Malou Innocent
Like many Americans, a growing number of post-9/11 veterans care more about protecting and defending the United States and less about transforming failed states, democratizing the Middle East, protecting wealthy allies, and sacrificing more American lives in the name of global hegemony. Last Friday, ahead of Tuesday’s New Hampshire Primary, Gwen Ifill of the PBS [...]
War Vets and the New Hampshire Primary is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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