Investigation of COVID-19 Origins: Recommendations for Congress

The Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province, on February 3, 2021 (Getty Images)

As the U.S. intelligence community delivers its assessment of COVID-19's origins to President Biden this week, it's expected that the report will not provide a conclusive answer to the pressing question of whether the virus originated naturally or from a lab accident. Whatever the results of the investigation, one thing is clear: The American people and the world are owed an answer on whether the Chinese government has conducted a dual-use covert bioweapons program in Wuhan, argue Hudson Adjunct Fellow Tom DiNanno and former arms control official Paula DeSutter in their new policy memo. DiNanno and DeSutter articulate concrete recommendations to Congress to ensure that the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance recommence their investigation into the origins of COVID-19, in keeping with its Congressional mandate. 

Now What? The Global Consequences of American Defeat in Afghanistan

An air crew assists evacuees aboard a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 21, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Getty Images)

America’s precipitous withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent takeover by the Taliban will have grave consequences far beyond the immediate security and humanitarian crises. In the wake of this, Hudson experts Nadia Schadlow, Robert Greenway, Michael Doran, Rebeccah Heinrichs, Bryan Clark, John Lee and Peter Rough weigh in on the geopolitical chain reaction they anticipate in areas including competition with China, the fight against global jihadism, and nuclear proliferation.

Virtual Event | Can We Prevent Further Calamity in Afghanistan?

Afghans arrive at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing point in Chaman on August 24, 2021 following the Taliban's military takeover of Afghanistan. (Getty Images)

The apparent lack of any contingency planning for the swift fall of Kabul to the Taliban has left the United States with perhaps the worst foreign policy crisis of the post-Cold war era. What should the U.S. do to exfiltrate our citizens and allies and prevent the loss of life in the short- and medium-term? How significant is the terrorist threat to the U.S. following the Taliban takeover? What can be done to rebuild America’s global prestige and restore the faith of our allies following this self-made disaster?

Hudson Senior Fellow Nadia Schadlow, Japan Chair H.R. McMaster, Adjunct Fellow Robert Greenway, and Senior Fellow Husain Haqqani discussed what the U.S. can do to prevent further calamity in Afghanistan and repair the strategic damage that has been done.

The Deeper Crisis Behind the Afghan Rout

U.S. President Joe Biden walks away without taking questions after delivering remarks on the worsening crisis in Afghanistan on August 16, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)

The Afghan debacle doesn’t create a crisis of belief in American military credibility but does feed something much harder to fix: the conviction that the U.S. cannot develop—and stick to—policies that work, writes Walter Russell Mead in The Wall Street Journal. It fuels fears that the U.S. is incapable of persistent, competent policymaking in ways that will be hard to reverse. Once the immediate crisis is past, the real work of rethinking U.S. foreign policy can begin.

The Afghan Tragedy Is China's Opportunity

Members of the Taliban on patrol in Herat, Afghanistan after taking control on August 18, 2021. (Getty Images)

If history is any guide, we can expect America’s retreat from Afghanistan to boost the opportunities for our superpower rival, Communist China. Washington’s regional influence will be supplanted by Beijing, which will rock the balance of power in Central and South Asia and across the Middle East, writes Arthur Herman in National Review. Policy-makers need to develop a bold plan to rebuild U.S. influence and power and reassure allies such as India, Saudi Arabia, and Israel that we aren’t handing the keys to Beijing.

BEFORE YOU GO...

🎙 Listen to Marshall Billingslea, former U.S. assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Nate Sibley discuss the Taliban’s funding sources and potential points of financial leverage that the U.S. and its allies could exploit on episode 17 of Making a Killing. This weekly podcast explores how corruption is reshaping global politics and fueling some of the deadliest security threats facing the world today.