A Foreign Aid Program That Works

U.S. Foreign Aid for Removing Land Mines Works Well, But Aid Allocations Need Review, Daily Signal, August 26, 2022. "The recent decision by the Biden administration to drop anti-personnel land mines from the U.S. arsenal was a serious mistake. It will not save lives. Indeed, it will likely cost lives—both of U.S. military personnel and of the civilians our military seeks to protect. But there are aspects of U.S. land mine policy that work well. Foremost among these is the support the U.S. provides to foreign countries for removing deployed land mines and destroying unexploded ordnance."

Why the ATT Is A Bad Idea, Part Infinity

War in Ukraine Shows Why Arms Trade Treaty Remains Bad Idea, Daily Signal, August 24, 2022. "The nations that have signed the Arms Trade Treaty are meeting this week in Geneva. In 2016, the Obama administration took the U.S. into the treaty. In 2019, the Trump administration took us out of it. The latter decision keeps on looking better and better."

Biden's Wrong on Landmines

The Biden Administration Is Wrong to Abandon Anti-Personnel Landmines, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5284, August 3, 2022. "On June 21, 2022, the Biden Administration canceled the Trump Administration’s policy that allowed U.S. military forces to employ anti-personnel landmines outside the Korean Peninsula. The Biden policy is the third major change in U.S. anti-personnel landmine policy since 2009. The Biden policy denies U.S. troops the use of weapons that could help to reduce U.S. casualties and help the U.S. military to prevail in future conflicts. It was adopted against the advice of the U.S. military in order to please progressive activists who have led the campaign against anti-personnel landmines. The Biden policy is a gift to Russia’s military land power that will do nothing to curb the misuse of anti-personnel landmines, which has skyrocketed as the campaign against these weapons has helped to disarm democracies."

Interpol's Finances

Interpol Needs Improved Financial Transparency to Restore Its Integrity and Block Autocratic Manipulation, Heritage Foundation Special Report #258, August 1, 2022. "Interpol serves a valuable purpose and deserves to be properly funded. Its democratic member nations have a particular stake in ensuring thatInterpol can fund itself through its normal budgetary processes, for the less Interpol relies on statutory contributions, the more likely it is to fall into the financial clutches of the autocracies that seek to abuse it for their own ends. The U.S. and its democratic allies in Interpol need to start laying the groundwork now for the election of the organization’s next Secretary General in 2024. No reforms of Interpol’s finances or of Interpol more broadly, no matter how necessary or far-reaching, will be effective if Interpol’s leaders are not committed to upholding and advancing them."

UK Defense, Yet Again, Goes Cheap

Why UK Defense Must Go on Offense, with intern Greyson Hoye, Daily Signal, August 1, 2022. "Following a wave of Cabinet and ministerial resignations, Boris Johnson has announced that he will step down as the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Now, Britain and the world are left to wonder who will be next to command its ship of state. Whoever it might be, the next prime minister must make defense a top priority."

Step by Step To Free Trade

Free Trade Between US, UK Is Step Closer, Daily Signal, June 27, 2022. "The United Kingdom is the U.S.’ closest ally. It also has one of the world’s largest economies. And, needless to say, Britain’s a democracy that plays by the rules. All that makes it amazing that the U.S. doesn’t have free trade with Britain. But the reason for that is simple: Until 2020, the U.K. was in the European Union, which meant it didn’t control its own trade policy."

Britain Has to Earn It

On 6th Anniversary of Brexit, UK Yet to Grab All of Freedom’s Opportunities, Daily Signal, June 22, 2022. "Six years ago, on June 23, 2016, Britain voted to leave the European Union. Above all, Brexit was about regaining the right of self-government, which is a fundamental value."

Global Britain After Brexit

Defining Britain’s Post-Brexit Role in the World, Centre for Brexit Policy, June 20, 2022. Uncredited contributor to the section on U.S.-U.K. relations.

The Pillars of U.S. Cold War Strategy in Europe

Germany and the Coming Struggle for the Atlantic Alliance, Limes: Rivista Italiana Di Geopolitica (Italy), June 2, 2022. "The U.S. strategy for Europe after 1945 rested on three pillars."

Brexit Britain in the Pacific

How the U.S. Can Support the U.K.’s Return to the Indo-Pacific Region, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5267, June 2, 2022. "The United Kingdom withdrew from major commitments East of Suez in 1968, but since 2019, Brexit Britain has returned to the Indo-Pacific region. While taking measures to restrict Chinese influence in the U.K., it has recognized China as a systemic competitor with values antithetical to its own, has built trading ties in Asia and the Pacific, and has developed new bilateral and multilateral security pacts in the region. The U.S. has benefitted from British initiative but has done little to encourage it. The U.K.’s return to the Indo-Pacific region is in the interests of the U.S. and the democratic world, and the U.S. should take steps to support the U.K."

Now, the UN Wants Bullet Control

UN Gun Control Program Runs Amok Again, Daily Signal, May 13, 2022. "More than two decades ago, the United Nations created a program to curb the trafficking of small arms. It’s done nothing but fire blanks. So now, the U.N. wants to control bullets."

U.S. Policies in Europe After Russia's Invasion

The Top Five U.S. Priorities for European Policy After Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, with Daniel Kochis, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #5258, April 7, 2022. "The year 2022 is the most important in transatlantic relations since the end of the Cold War. Russia’s unprovoked second invasion of Ukraine brings new urgency to the need for cooperation between the United States and its European allies. The U.S. can only meet the demands of this new era of great-power conflict, in which Russia and China both pose grave and wide-ranging challenges, if the U.S. builds on the strength of the transatlantic alliance, which remains central to its security. The Russian attack demonstrates that Europe has profoundly underestimated the dangers for which NATO was founded—and exists—to deter. The shock of the Russian assault must lead to unified action."

Interpol Should Have Suspended Russia

Russia Wrongly Escapes Suspension From Interpol, Daily Signal, March 17, 2022. "For years, Russia has been one of the worst abusers of Interpol. It uses the international police organization to harass political opponents and to brand as criminals any business leaders who own property the Kremlin wants to steal."

Land Mines, Clusters, ATT, and Interpol in FY2023 NDAA

How the National Defense Authorization (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2023 Should Prepare the Military for Great-Power Competition, edited by Frederico Bartels, Heritage Foundation Special Report #257, March 10, 2022, see recommendations 59 and 60.

Assessing FY2022 NDAA TRAP Provisions

Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act Contains Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention Provision on Interpol Abuse, with Uttam Dhillon, International Enforcement Law Reporter, February 25, 2022. "On December 27, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) into law. The NDAA contains Sec. 6503, “Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention,” (TRAP) which incorporates, with substantial alterations, provisions from the TRAP Acts introduced on a bipartisan basis in both the Senate and the House in 2019 and 2021."

The Latest Interpol GA Fiasco

Interpol’s New Leadership Demonstrates Lack of Will for Reform, with Sandra Grossman, National Interest, December 17, 2021. "Interpol makes valuable contributions to fighting crime that crosses international borders, but human rights organizations have rightly criticized the organization for failing to properly vet requests for police cooperation. Interpol did nothing to calm those concerns at its latest General Assembly meeting, held November 23-25 in Istanbul."

My NDAA Priorities for FY2022

Improving the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, edited by Frederico Bartels, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3673, December 3, 3021. "The Armed Forces are in the midst a substantial change in how they execute deterrence and prepare for war. The effort to refocus the Department of Defense on great-power competition started in earnest with the 2018 National Defense Strategy. This refocus is not a discreet event but an ongoing process that will take time and resources. The challenges to increase the size of the Navy are representative of the necessary time horizon for the other branches of the military. In this endeavor, Congress is an equal partner with the executive branch, and the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) represents a critically important opportunity to strengthen the national defense."

UAE Wins Interpol Presidency

In Interpol Elections, the Autocracies Take Control, Daily Signal, November 29, 2021. "The General Assembly last week held its latest round of elections, and the results were just about as bad as they could have been."

Brexit Won't Work Without Economic Freedom

Post-Brexit Britain Gains Prosperity via Trade Freedom, but Tax-and-Spend Policies Threaten These Gains, Daily Signal, November 12, 2021. "In the months and years before Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, Brexit’s enemies based their case overwhelmingly on economic arguments. That is what they have always done. The reason is simple: The political case for the European Union in Britain is not popular, because it means subordinating the elected House of Commons to EU bureaucrats. So the EU’s friends in Britain talked about money instead of sovereignty."

The FY2022 NDAA and Interpol

Abuse of Interpol for Transnational Repression: Assessing the FY22 NDAA’s Provisions for Prevention, with Jonathan Reich, Just Security, November 10, 2021. "The U.S. Congress has expressed increasing concern in recent years about the rise in transnational repression — that is, cross-border actions ranging from assassinations and abductions to intimidation and financial blacklisting that seek to deter and punish opposition or dissent. One form of transnational repression that has attracted considerable attention is the abuse by certain member countries of Interpol, the international organization tasked with facilitating worldwide police cooperation. As the single-largest funder of Interpol, the United States has an opportunity to take significant steps to curtail transnational repression by opposing Interpol abuse. This would both help to ensure that Interpol serves its intended purpose, and aid in setting the agenda for wider liberal democratic opposition to transnational repression in all its forms."

Interpol Priorities in 2021

Key Priorities for the U.S. at the 2021 Meeting of the Interpol General Assembly, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3664, November 1, 2021. "The 89th annual meeting of the Interpol General Assembly to be held this November 23–25 in Istanbul, Turkey, will be dominated by the election of a majority of Interpol’s Executive Committee, including a new president of Interpol, and the election of all seven members of Interpol’s appellate body, the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files. The United States should work with other democratic nations to form a democratic caucus in Interpol to ensure that qualified candidates from law-abiding democracies fill these positions. While the agenda for Interpol reform is wide, the United States should recognize that the autocracies are bidding in particular to win Interpol’s presidency, and defeating that bid—not reforming Interpol—will have to be the top priority in 2021."

ATT Is Bad for CATP

The Biden Administration’s Conventional Arms Transfer Policy Should Not Be Handcuffed by the Arms Trade Treaty, Hertiage Foundation Issue Brief #5235, November 1, 2021. "The Biden Administration is reviewing its Conventional Arms Transfer Policy (CATP), which governs conventional weapons export. A State Department official has indicated this review would determine “the proper relationship of the United States to the Arms Trade Treaty.” Incorporating the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in a revised CATP would be a grave error. The ATT would raise serious barriers to the conduct of U.S. foreign policy—and transform difficult questions of arms export policy into matters of law. The ATT is used solely to constrain the U.S.’s democratic allies: Most of its members do not take it seriously. The U.S. should continue to have a CATP that allows policymakers to weigh all relevant factors—not be handcuffed by the ATT."

Remembering Don

Remembering and Appreciating Donald Kagan, Yale Professor, Scholar, and Mentor, Daily Signal, August 18, 2021. "Sadly, with his passing—and the death just a few months earlier of Ambassador Charles Hill—Yale now has no identifiably conservative senior scholars. Yes, there are some who are not clearly party-line progressives, but by and large, the cleansing is complete, and it is now possible to graduate from Yale without even the opportunity to meet a senior scholar who definitely disagrees with the prevailing consensus."

How Interpol Abuse Affects the U.S. Legal System

Dictators Are Using Interpol to Shape America’s Legal System. It’s Time to Change That, with Heritage intern Zach Thapar, Daily Signal, August 17, 2021. "Without these reforms, authoritarian regimes will continue to define who is a criminal in the United States, and American law enforcement will continue to treat their meritless requests as legitimate. We must end this foreign manipulation of the American criminal justice system."

Churchill's First Greatest Work

At Full Flow: Winston Churchill’s The River War Restored, Finest Hour, No. 193, Third Quarter 2021, pp. 42-45 (not available online). "This definitive edition is a contribution of monumental significance to the preservation and understanding of Churchill’s life and work. No praise is too great for Professor Muller, St. Augustine’s Press, and the International Churchill Society for their labors in the production of these remarkable volumes. The patience many subscribers have shown in waiting for thesevolumes has been vindicated."