The New Starts program, created by Congress in 1991, “is the federal government’s primary financial resource for supporting locally-planned, implemented, and operated transit ‘guideway’ capital investments.” In a new paper, Cato scholar Randal O’Toole shows that New Starts has effectively given transit agencies incentives to select the costliest, rather than the most cost-effective, alternative to any transit problem, and argues that the program should be abolished.

• “‘Paint Is Cheaper Than Rails’: Why Congress Should Abolish New Starts,” by Randal O’Toole

While national parks and wildlife refuges can charge entry fees, managers of other federal lands can only charge for developed recreation, such as campgrounds, not dispersed recreation, such as hiking and backpacking. In a new paper, Cato scholar Randal O’Toole argues that Congress should allow federal land agencies to charge market rates for all forms of recreation.

• “Improving Incentives for Federal Land Managers: The Case for Recreation Fees,” by Randal O’Toole

The Obama administration reportedly has decided to provide “direct military aid” to Syria’s insurgents, after concluding that Syrian forces were using chemical weapons.  But according to Cato scholar Doug Bandow, this kind of messy conflict is precisely the sort that Washington should avoid. “Americans should have something fundamental at stake before their government calls them to arms,” says Bandow. “No such interest exists in Syria.”

• “Washington Foolishly Tilts Towards War in Syria,” by Doug Bandow
• “The Perils of Intervention in Syria,” by Doug Bandow
• “Erase the Red Line,” by John Mueller

For many, lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s surveillance practices are now on the agenda. But the program’s defenders insist it’s entirely legal — that the Constitution doesn’t even protect the records in question — and they may be right.  Cato scholar Julian Sanchez argues that this means we need to seriously rethink how the Fourth Amendment works in the 21st century. “Simply by using modern technology,” says Sanchez, “Americans have — for the most part unwittingly — abandoned the Fourth Amendment’s protection for a vast and growing portion of their intimate activities.”

• “How Solid Is the NSA’s Legal Footing?,” by Julian Sanchez
• “NSA Snooping: a Majority of Americans Believe What?,” by David Kirby
• “In Its Bubble of Secrecy, the National Security Bureaucracy Redefined Privacy for Its Own Purposes,” by Jim Harper