The Fleet of the Future

The U.S. Navy is facing a once-in-a-century combination of challenges, from rising adversaries to budget constraints that prevent the Navy from simply growing its fleet with better versions of today’s ships. In a new report, authors Bryan Clark, Seth Cropsey and Tim Walton propose a streamlined and improved fleet architecture that will maximize advantages in a future budget-constrained environment.

Strengthening U.S. Manufacturing

Are policymakers doing enough to support the American manufacturing innovation base?  Join us today for a discussion with Thomas Duesterberg, former Under Secretary of Commerce Gil Kaplan, IBM Research VP Taffy Kingscott, and leading experts on the policies needed to spur innovation and expand U.S. manufacturing's global market share.

Revealing China's NASA Network

The United States has substantially reduced its reliance on Russian space companies over the last five years. Now we need progress regarding China, writes Richard Weitz in The Hill. Through a strategy of military-civil fusion, China leverages its commercial activities for military gain. To prevent American taxpayers from supporting Beijing’s military ambitions, NASA’s space contractors should be required to disclose their connections to the PRC.

The European Union Faces Reality

An effective European Union isn’t coming anytime soon, states Walter Russell Mead in The Wall Street Journal. The EU is facing crises in every direction, and while Germany, France and Italy often speak movingly about the need for a united foreign policy, when push comes to shove the countries remain committed to their own national interests. 

Beijing Acts in Bad Faith

The Vatican’s provisional agreement with Xi Jinping’s regime is up for renewal. In the Washington Examiner, Nina Shea catalogues the recent actions taken by Beijing to transform Chinese Catholicism into an extension of the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese church homilies must now be based on Xi’s sayings, while new religious restrictions require Catholic churches, among other houses of faith, to “spread the principles and policies of the CCP” and ensure that religious personnel and believers “support the CCP leadership.”

BEFORE YOU GO...

• Was the "liberal international order" ever that liberal? In a new review of Patrick Porter's book "The False Promise of Liberal Order," Rebeccah Heinrichs explores the phrase's contradictions, and why the “American-led order" is a more accurate reflection of history and reality. Read it in Law & Liberty.