AEI's weekly digest of top commentary and scholarship on the issues that matter most
AEI This Week
AEI's weekly digest of top commentary and scholarship on the issues that matter most
THE IRAN WAR
Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
May 9, 2026
Negotiations with Iran remain inconclusive as the United States seeks to open the Strait of Hormuz and terminate Iran’s nuclear weapons program. AEI’s Marc A. Thiessen, whose significant influence with President Trump was reported this week by Semafor ([link removed] ) , warns ([link removed] ) that US restraint risks emboldening the regime—and wasting an opportunity to complete the job.
5183730 ([link removed] )
As another blockbuster term for the Supreme Court enters its closing months, Yuval Levin and Adam J. White hosted Sarah Isgur at AEI to discuss her new book on the Court, Last Branch Standing. Watch their lively and candid conversation ([link removed] ) that reveals how America’s high court works behind the scenes and why the current court is in far better shape than critics on the left say.
Since 2012, the percentage of young adults who regularly talk to their neighbors has dropped from 51 percent to 25 percent. This is just one of the startling findings in Daniel A. Cox, Jae Grace, and Avery Shields’s new survey ([link removed] ) —conducted by AEI’s Survey Center on American Life—that documents the continued fraying of America’s social fabric.
In March, US Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a new rule allowing public housing agencies to implement work requirements and time limits for nondisabled, working-age recipients of housing benefits. In a comment submitted to the department, AEI Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility Deputy Director Kevin Corinth explains ([link removed] ) how this new rule would make federal housing assistance more equitable and encourage upward mobility.
Last year, President Trump’s decision to fire the head of Bureau of Labor Statistics and claim that the agency’s data was “rigged” spiked uncertainty for investors, businesses, and households. In a new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, AEI Economic Policy Studies Director Michael R. Strain estimates ([link removed] ) the cost of this episode to reveal the significant marginal value of public trust in official statistics.
Can the Pentagon Embrace Commercial Acquisition?
Policymakers increasingly recognize that the Pentagon needs to buy more commercial, off-the-shelf products to meet military needs—rather than over-relying on the development of bespoke goods and services. In a new working paper, acquisition reform expert William C. Greenwalt ([link removed] ) evaluates the prospects of commercial acquisition reform. Since the 1960s, the consolidation of the big five defense monopolies has increased barriers to commercial participation—stifling innovation and bloating costs. Over the past few decades, waves of reform have made little dent on this issue, but Greenwalt identifies how Congress and the administration can build off past incremental changes and better utilize current authorities to fully leverage the defense potential of America’s dynamic private sector.
More from AEI
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Who Benefits from AI? New Studies Offer an Answer. ([link removed] )
John Bailey | AEIdeas
Losing the War of Inflation ([link removed] )
Desmond Lachman | DC Journal
College Decision Day in an Era of Uncertainty ([link removed] )
Mark Schneider | AEIdeas
The Five P's of Data Privacy ([link removed] )
Shane Tews | AEIdeas
Why Republicans Will Regret Defunding NPR ([link removed] )
Howard Husock | Washington Examiner
PODCASTS AND VIDEOS
China’s Changing Population . . . and Why It Matters ([link removed] )
Nicholas Eberstadt | Great Power Podcast
A Helping of Hegel and a Morsel of Marx ([link removed] )
Jonah Goldberg | The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg
What AI Can Do—and What It Can't ([link removed] )
Charles N. Kahn III and John Halamka | KFF's The Business of Health with Chip Kahn
Bayou Ballots ([link removed] )
Jay Cost and Sean Trende | Stubborn Things
A Family Affair ([link removed] )
Christopher J. Scalia and Karan Mahajan | The Back of the Book
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
[Louisiana v. Callais’s] de-emphasis of race in the drawing of congressional districts should be seen as a message of respect from the court regarding the gradual fading of race as the most important issue in American life—and as a sign of respect for the concerns Black voters have beyond the color of their skin.
—Howard Husock ([link removed] )
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