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2. Leashing the Surveillance State: How to Reform Patriot Act Surveillance Authorities
- Author:
- Julian Sanchez
- Publication Date:
- 05-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Congress recently approved a temporary extension of three controversial surveillance provisions of the USA Patriot Act and successor legislation, which had previously been set to expire at the end of February. In the coming weeks, lawmakers have an opportunity to review the sweeping expansion of domestic counter-terror powers since 9/11 and, with the benefit of a decade's perspective, strengthen crucial civil-liberties safeguards without unduly burdening legitimate intelligence gathering. Two of the provisions slated for sunsetroving wiretap authority and the so-called “Section 215” orders for the production of records—should be narrowed to mitigate the risk of overcollection of sensitive information about innocent Americans. A third—authority to employ the broad investigative powers of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act against “lone wolf” suspects who lack ties to any foreign terror group—does not appear to be necessary at all.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Intelligence, National Security, Counterinsurgency, Governance, and Law
- Political Geography:
- United States
3. Budgetary Savings from Military Restraint
- Author:
- Benjamin H. Friedman and Christopher Preble
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The United States needs a defense budget worthy of its name, one that protects Americans rather than wasting vast sums embroiling us in controversies remote from our interests. This paper outlines such a defense strategy and the substantial cuts in military spending that it allows. That strategy discourages the occupation of failing states and indefinite commitments to defend healthy ones. With fewer missions, the military can shrink its force structure—reducing personnel, the weapons and vehicles procured for them, and operational costs. The resulting force would be more elite, less strained, and far less expensive. By avoiding needless military conflict and protecting our prosperity, these changes would make Americans more secure.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Debt
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
4. Cracks in the Foundation: NATO's New Troubles
- Author:
- Stanley Kober
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is beginning to fracture. Its members, sharing the triumphalism that underpinned U.S. foreign policy after the Cold War, took on burdens that have proved more difficult than expected. Increasingly, they are failing to meet the challenges confronting them.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Defense Policy, NATO, and International Organization
- Political Geography:
- United States
5. Taiwan's Defense Budget: How Taipei's Free Riding Risks War
- Author:
- Justin Logan and Ted Carpenter
- Publication Date:
- 09-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Taiwan spends far too little on its own defense, in large part because the Taiwanese believe the United States is their ultimate protector. The Taiwan legislature's six-year delay and severe down- sizing of a budget to pay for weapons systems that Washington has offered the island since 2001 is only one piece of evidence of Taiwan's free riding. Although Taiwan recently approved roughly US$300 million of the original budget of about $18 billion, the underlying problem remains: even with the new appropriation, Taiwan's overall investment in defense—approximately 2.6 percent of GDP—is woefully inadequate, given the ongoing tensions with mainland China. America is now in the unenviable position of having an implicit commitment to defend a fellow democracy that seems largely uninterested in defending itself.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Security, and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States and Asia
6. CATO Institute: Flying the Unfriendly Skies: Defending against the Threat of Shoulder-Fired Missiles
- Author:
- Charles V. Peña
- Publication Date:
- 04-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, or MANPADS (man-portable air defense systems), have proliferated throughout the world. They can be purchased on the military arms black market for as little as $5,000. More than two dozen terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, are believed to possess such weapons. The FBI estimates that there have been 29 MANPADS attacks against civilian aircraft resulting in 550 deaths. At least 25 of the reported attacks have been attributed to nonstate actors.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Science and Technology, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States
7. Nuclear Deterrence, Preventive War, and Counterproliferation
- Author:
- Jeffrey Record
- Publication Date:
- 07-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- During the Cold War, the principal function of nuclear weapons was to deter nuclear attack. Nuclear deterrence was not considered a tool of nonproliferation. The primary mechanisms for halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons were the nonproliferation regime established by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 and the U.S. extension of nuclear deterrence to states that might otherwise have sought security through the acquisition of nuclear weapons.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, Cold War, Nuclear Weapons, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States
8. Missile Defense: Defending America or Building Empire?
- Author:
- Charles V. Peña
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The rationale for missile defense put forward by its advocates is often a “doom and gloom” picture: America and its citizens are defenseless against the threat of ballistic missiles, and missile defense is supposed to protect the American people. The administration's vision of missile defense is not just a global system that protects the United States against long-range missiles but a global system capable of engaging all classes of ballistic missiles to protect U.S. forces deployed worldwide, U.S. allies, and other friendly countries. Thus, the purpose of missile defense is extended well beyond protecting America and Americans.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, and Nuclear Weapons
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
9. Wrong War, Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Why Military Action Should Not Be Used to Resolve the North Korean Nuclear Crisis
- Author:
- Doug Bandow
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Ever since North Korea's dramatic revelation that it was producing materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons, the Bush administration has considered a range of policy options—including a military strike on North Korean nuclear facilities. Although the administration officially dismisses such talk, President Bush has left the military option on the table, and influential advisers outside of the administration have openly called for military action along the lines of the Israeli attack on Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osirak in 1981.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, Israel, and North Korea
10. The China-Taiwan Military Balance: Implications for the United States
- Author:
- Ivan Eland
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- China's economy is four times the size of Taiwan's and apparently growing at a faster rate; that economic disparity between China and Taiwan could eventually lead to a military disparity as well. Nonetheless, even an informal U.S. security guarantee for Taiwan against nuclear-armed China is ill-advised. Taiwan is not strategically essential to America's national security. Moreover, China has significant incentives to avoid attacking Taiwan. Perhaps the most crucial is that hostile behavior toward Taiwan would jeopardize China's increasing economic linkage with the United States and other key countries.
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, America, Taiwan, and Asia
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