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 DRONE THREAT
Homeland Defense in the Age of Cheap Weapons
September 12, 2026
Recent incursions at American and European military bases have underlined the vulnerability of the home front, especially fixed infrastructure, to attack from cheap drones. In a new AEI report, AEI Nonresident Senior Fellow John G. Ferrari and Dillon Prochnicki present ([link removed] ) a strategy to develop low-cost counter-drone measures as a permanent homeland defense mission.
drone_t20_yXWAlp-e1625092102834 ([link removed] )
AEI scholars are leading efforts to restore genuine viewpoint diversity in American higher education. Codirectors of AEI’s Center for the Future of the American University Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey reflect ([link removed] ) on the success and broader prospects of AEI scholars’ collaborations with Johns Hopkins University to bring more conservatives into teaching and research.
Why are young adults today so anti-American? It may be because that is what teachers have been trained to teach. In a new AEI report, AEI Conservative Education Reform Network Director Daniel Buck investigates ([link removed] ) how graduate schools of education are teaching prospective teachers progressive ideology and critical theory (at the expense of basic pedagogical techniques).
The Inflation Reduction Act dramatically increased the costs of Medicare Part D’s prescription drug plans while keeping premiums artificially low through temporary subsidies that will expire in 2030. In a new AEI report, AEI Senior Fellow Benedic N. Ippolito assesses ([link removed] ) the uncertain long-run viability of the prescription drug plan market and offers policymakers several reforms to better contain out-of-control cost growth.
After the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the administration reimposed 10 percent tariffs between February and July using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. In a new amicus brief to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, AEI Senior Fellow Stan Veuger and an assortment of leading economists explain ([link removed] ) why these tariffs also lack a legal basis.
Will New Transportation Technologies Increase Urban Density?
Will 21st-century transportation innovations decrease urban density, as the car did in the 20th century, or promote urban centralization, as the railroad did in the 19th century? In a new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, Edward L. Glaeser analyzes ([link removed] ) the urbanizing effects of four trends in transportation technology: shared mobility (such as Uber), autonomy (such as Waymo), vertical travel (such as drones, air taxis, and gondolas), and green mobility, as provided by bike lanes. As people spend more time traveling in denser, large areas, innovations that reduce the time cost of travel, such as autonomous cars, seem likely to complement urban living, as long as they don’t excessively increase traffic. However, the forces of inertia, which include regulation and legacy infrastructure, are likely to limit the impact of any new technologies in Europe and the US.
More from AEI
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
America Needs Its Boys to Play Football ([link removed] )
Ben Sasse | The Wall Street Journal
A Policy Response to Cyberattacks Against Key US Infrastructure ([link removed] )
R. Richard Geddes | Washington Examiner
I’m a Psychiatrist. Here’s What the Lindsay Clancy Jury Should Have Found. ([link removed] )
Sally Satel | The Free Press
25 Years Later, Polls Show What September 11 Changed—and What It Didn’t ([link removed] )
Karlyn Bowman | Washington Examiner
America’s Sailors Are Overworked—We Can Fix That ([link removed] )
Mackenzie Eaglen and Brady Africk | National Review
PODCASTS AND VIDEOS
What Is Happening with the Midterms? ([link removed] )
Danielle Pletka et al. | What the Hell Is Going On?
Are We Being Too Hard on Congress? ([link removed] )
Kevin R. Kosar | Understanding Congress
Better Than You Think: Long-Run Trends in Poverty, Inequality, and Mobility ([link removed] )
Richard Burkhauser et al. | AEI event
AI’s Role in Healthcare: What Keeps You Up at Night? ([link removed] )
Charles N. Kahn III et al. | KFF’s The Business of Health with Chip Kahn
Should We Close the US Department of Education? ([link removed] )
Nat Malkus et al. | The Report Card with Nat Malkus
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
When advocates of transgenderism, transhumanism, extreme longevity, and extreme fertility treatments promote the message that there is no biological limit that cannot eventually be overcome by medicine or technology, they normalize something that is harmful to a flourishing society: denying the reality of human limits.
—Christine Rosen ([link removed] )
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