“Money as a Weapons System”: The Promises and Pitfalls of Foreign Defense Contracting
The U.S. government spends billions of dollars every year on goods and services from foreign countries. Most of this spending is for military purposes. In recent years, government procurement has become one of the U.S. military’s most used—and least scrutinized—foreign policy tools for rebuilding states after war, buying military access, and pacifying insurgencies. The problem is that no one knows whether this spending is achieving its intended effects—or producing unwanted consequences. A new paper from Renanah Miles Joyce and Brian Blankenship argues that this strategic spending comes with risks that could erase benefits, create new problems, and complicate achieving desired goals.
- “ ‘Money as a Weapons System’: The Promises and Pitfalls of Foreign Defense Contracting,” by Renanah Miles Joyce and Brian Blankenship
Time for Qualified Immunity to Go
For the last several years, Cato has been leading the campaign to abolish qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that shields state officials, including law enforcement, from liability when they violate people’s constitutional rights. The most immediate practical goal of this campaign has been to convince the Supreme Court to hear one of the many cases calling for qualified immunity to be either narrowed or reconsidered outright. The Supreme Court finally appears ready to confront this question by scheduling for review more than 10 different qualified immunity petitions for possible consideration.
- “George Floyd’s Death Must Be a Catalyst for Accountability,” by Clark Neily
- “What Is Qualified Immunity?” by Jay Schweikert
- “Supreme Court Considering Challenges to Qualified Immunity,” podcast with Jay Schweikert
- “A Quarter Century of Cato Research on Police Accountability,” by Walter Olson
Conservative Big Tech Campaign Based on Myths and Misunderstanding
President Trump and many of his allies have been critical of Silicon Valley for years, alleging that social media companies are engaged in a campaign aimed at silencing conservative viewpoints. This claim is weak, with little empirical support, and conservative responses have revealed an unfortunate enthusiasm for government regulation of speech and a consistent misunderstanding of the law at the heart of online content moderation debates.
- “Conservative Big Tech Campaign Based on Myths and Misunderstanding,” by Matthew Feeney
- “Trump’s Social Media Order Rewrites Internet Law by Decree,” by Will Duffield
- “Holding Section 230 Hostage, Sen. Graham Demands Platforms EARN IT,” by Matthew Feeney and Will Duffield
Building a Modern Military: The Force Meets Geopolitical Realities
Budgetary and strategic inertia has impeded the development of a U.S. military best suited to deal with future challenges. Over the past several decades, the military has repeatedly answered the call to arms as American foreign policy privileges the use of force over other instruments of power and influence. The era of near endless war has now stretched into its third decade. In a new paper, Cato scholars Eric Gomez, Christopher A. Preble, Lauren Sander, & Brandon Valeriano argue that Washington should realign national security objectives and motivate allies and partners to become more capable as America’s relative military advantage wanes and the focus inevitably turns to domestic priorities, including public health.
- “Building a Modern Military: The Force Meets Geopolitical Realities,” by Eric Gomez, Christopher A. Preble, Lauren Sander, & Brandon Valeriano