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Aircraft Carrier Delayed by Budgeteers (From CBS Radio “Eye on the World”)
November 18, 2024 - Will Congress or the new Trump team fix the Biden administration’s shock decision to halt procurement of aircraft carrier CVN-82?  Stopping for two years could be catastrophic.  As I told CBS Radio, about 2,000 companies contribute to building an aircraft carrier, and “some of those long-lead suppliers may go out of business if there is a big gap.”  In a few years, we may not have enough aircraft carriers to cover all the hotspots in the world.
November 18, 2024
Can AI Help in Improving U.S. Military Logistics?
November 14, 2024 - The Wall Street Journal recently published an article highlighting what may be one of the biggest challenges that the U.S. military will face in case of a prolonged conflict in faraway regions: grossly inadequate logistics.
November 14, 2024
Finally, a Breakthrough in Battery Technology?
November 11, 2024 - Form Energy, a relatively unknown U.S. firm, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and now also by many high-profile private sector investors, including Bill Gates, claims that it has created a new type of battery that will –finally– make renewable energy truly cost effective.
November 11, 2024
Will Nuclear Power Fuel AI Centers in America?
November 6, 2024 - AI revolution is gaining momentum in America. NVIDIA, maker of the coveted chips which constitute AI’s key components (85% of global supply), from nowhere reached a market capitalization of about $ 3.4 trillion, becoming overnight the second most valuable company in the world –higher valuation than Microsoft or Saudi Aramco. Having taken notice of the unfolding revolution, all the major tech companies have jumped into the AI space hoping to reap incredible profits.
November 6, 2024
Strike at Boeing Hits USAF KC-46 Tanker, Supply Chain
October 16, 2024 - With the strike at Boeing entering a second month, what about the impact on national security?  On Monday, President Joe Biden dispatched Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su to Seattle for the first in-person meeting between a government official and the two parties.  Su’s mandate was to “encourage both parties to move forward in the bargaining process,” according to a Labor Department spokesman.
October 16, 2024
Water Used in Hydraulic Fracturing is Now Recycled
October 1, 2024 - Hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, is the phenomenal technological innovation that unleashed a U.S. boom in the production of oil and gas. Until a couple of decades ago, most energy experts agreed that America had practically exhausted most of its known oil and gas reserves.
October 1, 2024
America Needs Talented Immigrants
September 12, 2024 - It is a well-known cliché to affirm that America is “a country of immigrants.” That said, it is surprising that nowadays it is incredibly difficult, even for very talented foreign individuals, to become legal immigrants to the United States, and therefore be hired by tech companies or start their own.
September 12, 2024
US Nuclear Power Future: Small Reactors
August 7, 2024 - Could it be that the now moribund U.S. civil nuclear power sector will be lifted to new heights by innovative technologies? Maybe so, if the concept of small nuclear reactors gets traction in the U.S. and elsewhere, this way creating a new modality to supply low cost, emission free, electricity.
August 13, 2024
Kamala Harris Should Seize the Moment, Embrace AI (From RealClearMarkets)
July 12, 2024 - Enthusiasm for the vast number of problem-solving, transformative benefits that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can provide has driven the stock market significantly higher in 2024, attracted a bevy of venture capital and other investments, and helps explain why the White House is taking a much more positive look at AI.
August 1, 2024
America Needs Maverick
WASHINGTON – Recently I happened to watch three movies and a short docudrama that left a strong impression. The stories are quite different and yet they have a central theme. In different ways they are an inspiring celebration of American resourcefulness, sometimes against the rules, resilience and dogged determination: the “can do” Maverick spirit.
June 18, 2024
How The Left Long Ago Won The Moral High Ground
WASHINGTON — Beyond the complex Left versus Right debates, and the endless diatribes on the merit of this or that public policy advocated or opposed by either side, it is of crucial importance to stress that the Left has the enormous advantage of appearing to own the moral high ground. Whether by accident or by design, the Left defined its policies through words that have a positive and implicitly benign ring, and therefore an almost automatic moral appeal.
April 25, 2024
Patriots Among Us
February 22, 2024 - While we all enjoyed our President’s Day off on Monday, today is actually George Washington’s birthday. All hail to our first commander-in-chief. President’s Day was first consolidated to combine Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays, which was a good cause. But it has become watered down in the public mind, and now for many people it is a celebration of all our presidents. That is too bad, so the Lexington Institute has decided to go ahead and celebrate Washington’s birthday on its own with the below article.
February 22, 2024
Army Modernization, And The Virtues Of Moderation (From Forbes)
November 18, 2022 - Issue Brief by GPI Senior Adviser Loren B. Thompson. The U.S. Army is in the midst of a successful campaign to modernize its equipment and close gaps in capabilities needed for an era of great-power competition. This is a distinct departure from the uneven performance of modernization efforts during the Bush and Obama administrations. What changed? Four lessons are apparent. First, the Army developed a clear plan, a roadmap for modernization, in 2018 and stuck with it.
November 21, 2022
Arbitrary Drugs Expiration Dates Are A Waste Of Money
July 14, 2022 - Issue Brief by Ziv Harish. It has been said that American urine is the most expensive in the world due to the many expensive vitamins and supplements that we consume, but which our bodies do not absorb. The same may be said about American garbage, into which we dump millions of dollars’ worth of unused medications simply because they are past their marked expiration dates.
July 17, 2022
Metropolis Doomed
June 15, 2022 - Issue Brief by GPI Fellow Martin Hutchinson. We are constantly subjected to propaganda from media journalists living in tiny apartments in crime-ridden major cities about how wonderful those cities are. That is partly a matter of taste, of course. However, the technological and organizational changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic may finally end city life for those for whom that pathological taste is not politically and psychologically ingrained.
June 20, 2022
Navy’s Latest Shipbuilding Plan Is Not Good News For The Industrial Base (From Forbes)
May 13, 2022 - Issue Brief by GPI Senior Advisor Loren B. Thompson. The number of warships in the U.S. naval fleet has not managed to get above 300 for two decades. Meanwhile, the country the Chief of Naval Operations describes as “our pacing threat,” China, is headed for 400 warships in its own fleet at mid-decade. The disparity is even worse than it seems, because Chinese forces are concentrated close to home, where Beijing also sustains a growing arsenal of long-range, antiship weapons.
May 22, 2022
On January 6 The Unthinkable Was Done
November 20th, 2021 - Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON— The efforts to precisely determine the intent of all who participated in the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 are understandable but unproductive, because by now it is clear that the attack was not planned and executed by a cohesive force that had a clear strategic objective. What we saw on January 6 was a mob, a violent mob.
November 29, 2021
Forever Politicians Are Bad For America
August 09th, 2021 - Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON – Beyond the numerous, fairly well documented allegations of sexual harassment against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, the lengthy report ordered by Letitia James, New York State Attorney General, reveals a powerful public official –Governor Cuomo– who routinely behaves like a moody despot. Based on this report, we learn that Governor Cuomo created a climate of fear and intimidation in his office.
August 15, 2021
When Americans Stopped Believing In America
July 28th, 2021. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON – Does anybody remember Lyndon LaRouche? He was a weird, if colorful, U.S. agitator who founded the National Caucus of Labor Committees through which he promoted a strange combination of crazy ideas mixed with a variety of outlandish conspiracy theories. LaRouche overtime built a national organization with significant international connections. He run for President many times as a candidate for his own US Labor Party.
August 6, 2021
U.S. Shipbuilding Is At Its Lowest Ebb Ever. How Did America Fall So Far? (From Forbes)
July 23rd, 2021 - Issue Brief by GPI Senior Adviser Loren B. Thompson. There was a time within living memory when America was the world’s biggest builder of commercial oceangoing vessels, and its ships carried a third of global trade. Those days are long gone. The U.S. now typically produces less than ten such vessels annually, compared with over a thousand in China. And barely one-percent of U.S. trade is carried on U.S.-registered ships.
July 26, 2021
Why We Know F-35 Support Costs Will Fall In The Future (From Forbes)
July 20th, 2021 - Issue Brief by GPI Senior Adviser Loren B. Thompson. The Government Accountability Office put out a report earlier this month purporting to show that the F-35 fighter costs more to operate and sustain than U.S. military services can afford to pay. Somehow, though, the report failed to mention that F-35 is already more reliable and maintainable than the aircraft it will be replacing–not to mention more effective at executing key missions.
New Government in Israel faces major challenges
June 21st, 2021. Issue Brief by GPI Fellow Ralph Amelan. We have a new government in Israel. A bizarre rough slouching beast, at first appearance. Eight parties reflecting widely divergent political views have banded together with two aims in common: to deny long-serving Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu another term in office, and to put an end to the seemingly endless cycle of stalemated elections: four in the space of two years. Will it survive? Three pointers to the future.
June 27, 2021
Fixing Our Most Important And Vulnerable Infrastructure–The Electric Grid (From Inside Sources)
May 05th, 2021 - Issue Brief by Paul Steidler. America’s most important infrastructure is also our most vulnerable – the electric grid. It is old and literally on the screens of foreign adversaries (e.g., China, Russia, and Iran) who have been attacking it and will continue to do so. For years numerous government agencies have warned about the many dangers to the electric grid. There are important roles for the private sector, the federal government, and state government to take in strengthening and protecting the electric grid.
May 19, 2021
Army Leaders Endorse Upgrades Of Chinook Helicopter, Cite Industrial Base Concerns (From Forbes)
May 06th, 2021 - Issue Brief by Loren B. Thompson. The U.S. Army’s objections to Block II upgrades of the Chinook helicopter seem to be softening. On Wednesday of this week, Army Chief of Staff James McConville told the House defense appropriations subcommittee that his service needs the additional lift provided by the upgrades, and is mindful of the industrial base impacts if the upgrades do not go forward. The industrial fallout really would be significant, potentially shutting the main production line at the biggest industrial complex in southeastern Pennsylvania and destroying thousands of skilled jobs across a vast supply chain.
May 6, 2021
US Leaving Afghanistan Is About Politics, Not Geopolitics
April 23rd, 2021. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON – Here we go. After some debate within his administration, President Joe Biden declared that all US troops will leave Afghanistan before September 11, a symbolic anniversary. This is not a decision contingent on conditions on the ground. We are leaving because of domestic politics calculations. Biden thinks that he will gain points with US voters by finally ending the now 20 year old “never ending war”.
April 26, 2021
Can Washington Borrow and Spend Without Limit?
April 07th, 2021. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON – Parts of the US are still suffering from the devastating consequences of the economic freeze enforced because of the ongoing pandemic that began in January 2020. Millions of Americans are still out of work. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with Washington directing emergency funds to the millions of unemployed Americans who lost their jobs because of draconian restrictions caused by the Covid emergency.
Big Oil Is Cutting Emissions. With Big Data It Will Do It Quicker. (From RealClearEnergy)
April 1st, 2021 - Issue Brief by Paul Steidler. The world’s largest oil and natural gas companies are sprinting to cut greenhouse gas emissions and making significant progress. By reengineering many operations through digital technology and cloud storage – Big Data – emissions will be cut sooner, and without unnecessary, drastic steps that will drive up the price of oil and gasoline, thereby imposing a de facto, regressive tax. While the oil and natural gas industries have been slow to adopt data analytics, cloud computing, and related practices, there are compelling reasons to do so now. Lexington Institute’s Paul Steidler discusses these matters
April 5, 2021
Irrational America Will Fail
March 12th, 2021. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON – Americans love biographies. A classic sub-category of this popular genre is books about the lives and deeds of past US Presidents. It is surprising to see how so many different authors keep coming up with new angles and new material on Presidents Washington, Lincoln or Johnson.
March 17, 2021
No Way Out: Why Nuclear Modernization Is Necessary (From Forbes)
February 24th, 2021. Issue Brief by GPI Senior Adviser Loren B. Thompson. Last week I participated in an online panel about nuclear modernization. My presentation focused on six slides that summarize why the U.S. has no choice but to modernize its triad of nuclear weapons. The argument comes down to this: (1) There is no effective defense against a large-scale nuclear attack; (2) The U.S. therefore deters attack by threatening unacceptable retaliation, but all the weapons in our triad must soon retire; (3) Maintaining an effective deterrent does not preclude nuclear reductions and costs a small fraction of the defense budget; (4) The Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine will host most U.S. warheads in the future because it cannot be destroyed in a surprise attack when at sea; (5) Land-based ballistic missiles need to be modernized because they greatly complicate the challenge of disarming the U.S. in an attack; and (6) Bombers provide flexibility in a crisis, but their cruise missiles are becoming unreliable and must be replaced to successfully penetrate enemy defenses.
March 8, 2021
Five Progressive Reasons Why President Biden Shouldn’t Cut The Pentagon Budget (From Forbes)
February 02nd, 2021 - Issue Brief by GPI Senior Adviser Loren B. Thompson. Some progressive members of the Democratic Party are calling for a cut in defense spending to free up money for domestic programs. However, that might create consequences that are at odds with what progressives want. The Pentagon budget is an economic stimulus and jobs generator for thousands of communities, not to mention the closest thing Washington has to an industrial policy. Only 3% of the budget is currently spent on prosecuting foreign wars in places like Afghanistan. Budget cuts could bring a return of readiness issues that endanger warfighters and undermine the new administration’s credibility on national security. Beyond that, the military needs a technology refresh if it is to keep up with China’s military modernization, and the jobs created in the process could impact voting in swing states.
February 5, 2021
No Easy Way To Silence Bad Speech
January 31st, 2021. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON – In our United States, the First Amendment to the Constitution establishing the protection of freedom of speech is the cornerstone of an institutional edifice proclaiming that this Republic was created to protect individual liberties. Without the full enjoyment of freedom of speech there is no real Liberty, and therefore no real Democracy. In America every citizen should feel absolutely free to publicly state, proclaim, broadcast pretty much whatever they want, without any fear of retribution. Others may agree or disagree with what I say. They may like or dislike it. But nobody has the power of censoring me or punishing me for what I said.
Trump’s Long Shadow
January 25th, 2021. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON – After the January 6th riots, for a brief moment we were led to believe that the Republican Party would do its best to come to terms with and shed the abominable legacy of Donald Trump. It was clear to all that the unprecedented violent attack against the US Capitol had been inspired and orchestrated by Donald Trump’s relentless barrage of lies regarding the November 3 “stolen elections”. He had convened his loyal supporters in Washington on January 6 as his last stand. His declared goal was to mobilize his followers so that they would do “something” to prevent the outrage of the final congressional validation of his opponent’s victory that was to take place that very day via a vote by both Chambers. The “something” that had to be done became the attack on the US Capitol, an unprecedented act of sedition.
America Should Be An Opportunity Society
December 30, 2020. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON – Come January 20, 2021, Joe Biden will be unable to effectively govern America without at least a modicum amount of bipartisan cooperation in Congress. While we will not know until the Georgia January 5th vote which party will be in control of the Senate, for Biden the very best congressional balance scenario is that the Democrats will keep their very thin House majority, while they will gain control of the Senate with a one vote majority, thanks to the tie breaker vote that will be cast by Vice President Harris. This not so rosy scenario is based on the rather optimistic assumption that the two Democratic candidates will win both Georgia Senate seats on January 5th, a possible but rather improbable outcome.
January 20, 2021
Beware Of Politicians Trying To Rescue You From Technology Companies (From RealClearMarkets)
December 17th, 2020. Issue Brief by Paul Steidler. During the pandemic America’s large technology companies have been critical to the economy while providing significant health and safety benefits. If America did not have the services of our large technology companies, we would hear calls for the government to invest tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to invent them. Instead, there are now aggressive antitrust actions against these companies by elected officials and central bureaucrats that pose major risks to the engine of our economy and our health and safety.
December 27, 2020
Why Lloyd Austin Is A Superior Pick To Run The Defense Department (From Forbes)
December 08th, 2020. Issue Brief by GPI Senior Adviser Loren B. Thompson. President-elect Biden’s reported decision to nominate retired Army general Lloyd Austin to become Secretary of Defense is a wise move. Neither Biden nor the other announced members of his national security team have any intimate understanding of what modern war is like. They need at least one peer in their deliberations who has seen war up close, a professional who grasps the human dimensions of conflict. General Austin has seen combat at close hand from several perspectives, and has distinguished himself as one of the preeminent warfighters of his generation.
December 14, 2020
America Still in Trouble
November 15th, 2020. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. WASHINGTON – According to rosy pre-election predictions made by the Democrats and an army of pro-Democratic Party political commentators, November 3rd was supposed to mark not just the end of the Trump presidency but the strong national affirmation of a reinvigorated and now much more progressive Democratic party.
November 24, 2020
Biden Win Would Be A Mixed Blessing For Aerospace, But A Trump Win Could Be Worse (From Forbes)
October 20th, 2020. Issue Brief by GPI Senior Adviser Loren B. Thompson. President Trump has been a friend of the domestic aerospace sector during his first term, increasing Pentagon weapons outlays and promoting overseas arms sales. However, a second Trump term could be problematic if he tries to decouple from China, withdraws from NATO, or ends U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization. Such moves could make it harder for companies like Boeing to compete with foreign rivals. As president, Joe Biden wouldn’t do any of those things, but he would be less favorably disposed to weapons spending and would inject greater concern about human rights into the consideration of arms exports. Biden would also raise corporate tax rates, increase regulation, and limit the access of industry executives to the White House and federal agencies. So no matter who wins the election, challenges lie ahead for America’s aerospace industry.
November 7, 2020
Will President Biden Make The Same Mistake On Missile Defense That President Obama Did? (From the National Interest)
October 24th, 2020. Issue Brief by Daniel Goure. All the services understand that both their legacy fixed facilities (such as Guam) and new expedient bases will be subject to an an expanded array of threats, including attempts by unconventional forces to penetrate their perimeters. Expedient bases face the additional challenge of providing perimeter security while simultaneously setting up a new base, conducting missions, and eventually conducting a withdrawal. While the main threat to military facilities may come from enemy ballistic and cruise missiles, it is time to consider the possibility of unconventional attacks involving small drones and infiltrators. Defending these facilities will require rapidly deployable sensor systems.
October 29, 2020
Will President Biden Make The Same Mistake On Missile Defense That President Obama Did? (From Forbes)
October 23rd, 2020. Issue Brief by GPI Senior Adviser Loren B. Thompson. When Barack Obama became president in 2009, he almost immediately set about scaling back missile defense efforts for protecting the American homeland that he had inherited from his predecessor. In the end, he killed almost everything. The only program that remained, Ground-based Midcourse Defense, languished for years. Then Obama’s team discovered that all the warnings they had received about North Korea’s nuclear program were true. So they had to begin building back what they had cut or killed. Will President Biden make the same mistake? If he does, the U.S. could be left vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated North Korean ballistic missiles and a new generation of Russian/Chinese hypersonic weapons.
The use and abuse of Supreme Courts
October 08th, 2020. Issue Brief by Martin Hutchinson. Every economic textbook trumpets the need for the rule of law as a safeguard for economic transactions, and will tell you that one major reason for many Third World countries’ poverty is their uncertain legal system and bribery-susceptible judges. Yet to have a rule of law, we need a court system to enforce the law and general agreement on what the law says. Since words can have multiple meanings which change over time, Supreme Courts of some sort or another have been instituted in many countries to interpret them. That is where the trouble starts.
October 8, 2020
House Acting On Nonpartisan Postmaster General Act
September 16th, 2020. Issue Brief by Paul Steidler. On August 25, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chair of the committee, introduced H.R. 8109, the Nonpartisan Postmaster General Act. The crux of the measure is to prevent anyone who has held elected office in the past four years, or served as “an officer, director, or employee” of a political party from becoming Postmaster General. It also bars those serving on the Board of Governors from soliciting campaign funds or holding elected office.
September 27, 2020
The Arrogant: “Rules Do Not Apply To Me”
August 29th, 2020. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. A commentator who apparently knows Steve Bannon quite well, (Bannon is a conservative politics strategist who advised Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign), expressed surprise when the news broke that Bannon and others had been arrested and charged with the crime of defrauding donors who had given money to a symbolic project about building a piece of the “famous” US-Mexico border that Donald Trump campaigned on. (The Trump administration has no part in this project). Well, if the charges can be proven, it appears that Bannon and other associates misappropriated part of the money donated and illegally diverted it to other pursuits, this way betraying the donors and breaking the law.
August 30, 2020
When Education Is Valued
August 23rd, 2020. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. Discussing Joe Biden’s pick for Vice President, it has been noted that Senator Kamala Harris’ mother came from the top placed Brahmin caste in Tamil, a state in south eastern India. While we know that the Indian caste system created hereditary privileges for those lucky enough to be born in the Brahmin caste, slated to become priests and academics, it is important to stress that the Tamil Brahmins, (colloquially known as Tambrams), were not just an entitled social class with hereditary power and prestige. They strongly cultivated education, for themselves and their offspring, as an extremely important value and key priority.
We Lost A Shared Reality
August 20th, 2020. Issue Brief by GPI President Paolo von Schirach. May be this was never true; but for a very long time many in America could argue that, whatever our political or ideological differences, we all shared the same facts based reality. We may have differed on what to do about issues and problems; but at least in a broad sense we were basing our judgments, opinions and counsel on the same facts.
August 21, 2020