The Al-Qaeda Threat in the U.S.

British Report Supports Heritage Analysis of Al-Qaeda Threat, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 28, 2013. "On Monday, the Britain-based think tank the Henry Jackson Society—named for Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson of Washington—published a major report by co-authors Robin Simcox and Emily Dyer on Al-Qaeda in the United States: A Complete Analysis of Terrorism Offenses."

Defining Victory Down

Al-Qaeda in the United States, Contentions, February 27, 2013. "It was also 20 years ago that Senator Daniel Moynihan warned of the dangers of “defining deviancy down.” Today, our strategy against Al-Qaeda is to win by defining victory down, and focusing only on the damage we do to its so-called core. That wrongly elevates drone strikes from a tool into a strategy, ignores the recruiting appeal of the Islamist ideology that is at the heart of the danger posed by Al-Qaeda, and neglects the fact that we are not very good at anticipating how al-Qaeda’s franchises and allies will grow, cooperate, and spread. Last year, very few analysts worried about Islamist militants in the Mahgreb; today, they control half a country."

U.S. Should Respect Outcome of Falklands Referendum

Falkland Islands: U.S. Should Support Right to Self-Determination, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3864, February 27, 2013. "On March 10–11, the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, will hold a referendum to decide whether to maintain allegiance to Great Britain. The islands are self-governing but maintain the British monarch as their head of state. The referendum is an answer to Argentina, which, though defeated by Britain in the 1982 Falklands War, is again waging a campaign of threats and intimidation in an effort to gain control of the islands. The U.S. should respect the outcome of the Falkland Islands referendum."

Congressional Leadership on ATT Needed

U.N. Arms Trade Treaty: Congress Should Show Leadership in Advance of the ATT Negotiations, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3863, February 26, 2013. "Next month, the United Nations will hold a second negotiating conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The first conference, held in July 2012, failed to reach consensus agreement on a treaty text. Before that conference, both the Senate and House played a constructive role in the treaty process by making their wide-ranging concerns about the ATT clear to the executive branch. Congress should now show similar leadership before the negotiations resume.

The Latest Islamist Convictions in Britain

Masterminds of British Islamist Terror Plot Convicted, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 22, 2013. "Britain’s success in breaking up this dangerous plot is encouraging. But there is nothing very new about it: The risks of the Pakistan–Britain connection have been well known for years. In a 2009 study, Heritage pointed out that homegrown Islamist terrorism was a major threat, and that “al-Qaeda’s safe haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas enables its leadership more easily to gain access to and to influence individuals with family ties to Pakistan,” including many British citizens."

Priorities in US-European Relations

John Kerry’s Grand Tour: Priorities for Europe, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3858, February 21, 2013. "The Obama Administration has too often taken America’s relations with Europe for granted. Secretary Kerry’s trip to Europe will offer him an opportunity to improve relations with America’s European partners, especially the United Kingdom, while at the same time ending blind U.S. support for deeper European integration."

In Politics, Pragmatism Only Goes So Far

Obama’s Lesson for Cameron on the Pitfalls of Pragmatism, Yorkshire Post (UK), February 15, 2013. "The longer Barack Obama is in the White House, the more closely he comes to resemble Tony Blair. Blair’s greatest strength was his ability to masquerade as a man without ideology, a pragmatist interested simply in doing what works. By defining himself as the rational center, he automatically stigmatized his opponents as irrational extremists."

What To Say Every Day

Valentine’s Day Advice from Ronald Reagan, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 14, 2013. "In 2004, Kiron Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson released Reagan: A Life in Letters, a best-selling selection from the more than 10,000 letters than President Ronald Reagan wrote in his lifetime. Reagan wrote the following letter to his son Michael in 1971, just before his marriage. It is a characteristic expression of Reagan’s sincerity, charm, and humanity."

Instant Response to the 2013 SOTU

Foreign Policy in Retreat, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 12, 2013. "What was striking about Obama’s remarks was how strongly his foreign policy vision contrasted with his domestic policy prescriptions. At home, it seems that very little does not qualify as an “investment”: by his way of thinking, the government exists to start programs, spend money, tax the rich, and do things. But abroad, the government exists mostly to stop doing things."

Oxfam America's All Out ATT Attack

The Truth About the Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 8, 2013. "Supporters of the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) are turning up the heat ahead of another push next month to finalize the treaty. Oxfam America is second to none in its advocacy of this bad treaty, and on Wednesday released a paper accusing opponents of the treaty of mounting a “campaign of lies and deliberate distortions” in order to stop a treaty that stands for “truth and justice” and “will prevent the irresponsible sale, gift, or lease of weapons and ammunition across borders.” The Heritage Foundation was itself singled out, and so we’d like to respond. First, of course, we’d like to thank Oxfam for recognizing the impact our work has had. As the author of the paper cited, I am doubly obliged. But we strongly disagree with Oxfam’s charge and think the organization itself is engaging in serious mischaracterizations of what this proposed treaty would do and not do."

Containment of Iran: Not the Easy Way Out

Iran: Rand Paul’s Containment Strategy, with Jim Phillips, Heritage Foundation Foundry, February 7, 2013. "Although few conservatives would disagree with that prescription, he rightly raised concerns about Iran and argued that there might be policy options between trying to talk to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to death and bombing Iran. He suggested the U.S. consider a version of a strategy of containment. Heritage examined this option in previous research. The containment option carries with it serious concerns."

The Reagan Doctrine and Obama

No, the Obama Doctrine Is Not the Reagan Doctrine, Heritage Foundation Foundry, January 24, 2013. "In the realm of foreign policy, President Obama’s a second Ronald Reagan, or so says James Joyner, the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. This is an example of a curious phenomenon: When a conservative is in office, liberals call him mad, bad, and dangerous. But when he’s safely out of office for twenty years or so, he becomes an example of wise and prudent statesmanship, and a supposed inspiration to the liberal idol of the day. It happened to Eisenhower, to Nixon, to Reagan, and to George H.W. Bush. One day, it will even happen to George W. Bush. The only leaders that liberal foreign policy gurus rarely celebrate are their own: No one wants to wear the mantle of Lyndon Johnson or Jimmy Carter."

Cut Loose from the EU Carcass

Another View from Washington DC: The State Department and EU Are Natural Allies, Heritage Foundation Foundry, January 17, 2013. "In his energetic response to Philip Gordon’s ill-conceived request that Britain forget about recovering its sovereignty and protecting its democracy, Hannan argues that the State Department wants Britain in the EU because the U.S. is gradually realizing that the EU is, “Frankenstein-like,” defining itself by petulant hostility to the U.S., and it wants Britain inside to moderate that hostility. If only. The State Department doesn’t want Britain inside because it disagrees with the EU. It wants Britain inside because it agrees with the EU. Not with absolutely everything it does, of course ¬– but most of the things that Hannan finds objectionable are things the State Department likes."

The New Nixon

"Nixon and Obama . . . Two Presidents, Two Eras and the American Path They Share," Yorkshire Post (UK), not available online, January 9, 2013. "With the exception of George Washington’s on February 22 – now shamefully amalgamated into Presidents Day – Americans have never paid much attention to presidential birthdays. So Richard Milhous Nixon’s one hundredth anniversary on January 9 will occasion no parades. But Nixon is relevant nonetheless. President Obama’s admirers like to compare him to Franklin Roosevelt, to John F. Kennedy, or – most commonly – to Abraham Lincoln, an allusion that Obama echoed by opening his campaign in 2007 in Springfield, Illinois. The comparison to Kennedy – an iconic figure with an exaggerated reputation – is not bad. It’s certainly better than Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas’s celebrated 2009 declaration that Obama is “sort of God.” But best of all is the comparison to Nixon, America’s disgraced president."

Confirmation Hearings and US Policy Towards Europe

Hagel, Kerry, and Brennan Senate Confirmation Hearings: U.S. Policy on Europe, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3820, with Nile Gardiner and Luke Coffey, January 9, 2013. "The Senate confirmation process allows the American public an opportunity to learn more about these candidates, what they believe, and how they see America’s role in a dangerous world. The American people deserve clear answers from President Obama’s nominees and a clear-cut commitment from them that they will advance U.S. interests on the world stage and defend America’s national security needs."

Understanding American Security

Understanding American Security, with Luke Coffey, Heritage Foundation Special Report, November 29, 2012. "As long as Americans value independence and liberty, the U.S. will need powerful armed forces to deter and defeat its enemies. But what we have to do to stay secure changes over time. A hundred years ago, we did not need an air force. Today we do. We know we need to provide for the common defense. But how should we do it now?"

What New CPS Guidelines Tell Us About the UK Forum Bar

Extradition: CPS Guidelines & The Paradoxical Forum Bar, with Andrew Southam, The Commentator, November 15, 2012. "In late October, the Crown Prosecution Service, in a step that attracted little public attention, issued new, enforceable guidelines on how to prosecute alleged extradition crimes. The guidelines are interesting partly because they reinforce both modern extradition practice and longstanding tradition."

Bloggers Briefing Comments on ATT

VIDEO: The Bloggers Briefing featuring the Food Marketing Institute, and Ted Bromund, Heritage Foundation Foundry, November 13, 2012.

In the UN, More ATT

The Arms Trade Treaty Moves Forward, Heritage Foundation Foundry, November 13, 2012. "On Wednesday, the First Committee of the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution to hold a final negotiating conference on the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) on March 18–28, using the treaty text from last July’s conference, and under the rule of consensus (i.e. any nation can block the treaty by objecting to it). The General Assembly must now consider the resolution, but it is a foregone conclusion that they will approve it by an overwhelming margin."

A Post-Election Review

"Don’t Criticise Romney, Just Blame A World That’s Changing," Yorkshire Post, November 13, 2012, not available online. "Republicans are taking Mitt Romney’s defeat at the polls hard – especially because he seemed to have a chance of victory. That proved to be an illusion. In politics, defeat produces nothing as reliably as blame, and the usual place to put the blame is on the candidate and his campaign."

A View of the Election from Ohio

Message From the Heartland Tells Obama That The Battle Isn’t Over Yet, Yorkshire Post, November 6, 2012. "As it happens, I’m from Ohio. I don’t claim any great insight into the state, as I moved away when I went to college, over 20 years ago. But I happened to visit last weekend and was struck by what I saw."

Back to the UN Arms Trade Treaty

The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty Is Back (and Actually, It Never Left), Heritage Foundation Foundry, November 1, 2012. "The First Committee of the U.N. General Assembly is considering a resolution to convene “the Final United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty” in New York next March. Last July, a U.N. conference to negotiate an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) collapsed when it because obvious that the draft treaty was not ready for prime time. But as I wrote at the time, the conference’s collapse was “not the end of the process. It is the end of a phase.” That next phase of the ATT is now well under way."

Live Blogging the Final Presidential Debate for the BBC

Obama and Romney in Final Push, BBC News, October 23, 2012. A heavily edited set of responses to the final presidential debate, matched with opposing responses from P.J. Crowley.

Live Blogging the Final Presidential Debate

Heritage Experts Live Blog the Final Presidential Debate, Heritage Foundation Foundry, October 22, 2012. "The discussion of the U.S.’s place in the world in tonight’s debate was unsatisfactory. To the extent that it focused directly on that subject, both Obama and Romney sought to reduce it to a question of defense spending, which the President was eager to cut. That is the wrong approach; much better is to assess what the U.S. needs to carry out its responsibilities and budget accordingly. But both men largely fought shy of presenting any larger vision of the U.S.’s role in the world, and sought to focus their remarks on domestic policy."

Pre-Debate Post on US Role in the World

Debate Prep: The U.S. Role in the World, Heritage Foundation Foundry, October 22, 2012. "At the Heritage Foundation, we agree on the centrality of American leadership. But leadership is just a word: anyone can say that they believe in it. To be real and effective, leadership needs to be backed up by priorities, by policies, by budgets, and by the strength of the nation. And that is a good place to start."