Despite all the talk of “austerity,” little has been done to stem the tide of the United States’ ever growing debt. The little that has been cut is in area that needs it most: defense. The Budget Control Act’s sequestration hits defense disproportionately and essentially ignores entitlement spending, the leading driver of U.S. debt. President Obama has warned that he would “veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts.” This stance is irresponsible and unwise for several reasons. First, in an increasingly dangerous world with a rising …
This week, the House of Representatives will vote on several cybersecurity bills, giving rise to the apt moniker “Cyber Week.” Congress is right to act on this very important issue, as up to $400 billion is stolen from U.S. companies in cyber theft and espionage every year. While Congress correctly acknowledges this real threat, it is important that Congress not just act to say that it did something. H.R. 3523, or the Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), is a strong cybersecurity bill that the House Permanent Select Committee …
The Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program, for less than $15 a flight, certifies firearms-trained volunteer pilots as a last line of defense against would-be hijackers and terrorists. On March 23, Heritage’s James Carafano hosted an event with a panel of pilots and Representative Chip Cravaack (R–MN) to discuss this important program. Unfortunately, the Department of Homeland Security does not think that the FFDO program is so important. It is slashing the program’s budget in half, likely setting it up for complete deletion in the near future. The slashing of …
You send and receive them all the time: friend requests, tweets, wall posts, etc. For most of us, our regular routine of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites doesn’t seem particularly dangerous. Few would even consider such activities as part of a larger conflict. In Wiki at War, Heritage’s James Carafano argues that conflict does not end at the edge of the Internet and social media sites. All types of conflict—business competition, international rivalry, social unrest, and even military conflicts—are continued on the Internet. The Arab Spring is a …
Today we have access to vast amount of information at the click of mouse but are also faced with those who seek to steal secrets, disable defenses, or otherwise use the Internet for their own purposes. Heritage’s James Carafano addresses these threats in his new book, Wiki at War: “The war for winning dominance over social networks and using that dominance to [one’s] advantage is already underway.” While our first thoughts might be the worrying threats of cyber espionage or even cyberwarfare, there are also other struggles. Hacktivists, like Julian …
Think back 20 years ago. What were you doing? Whatever answer you came up with, it probably had nothing to do with the Internet, which was just coming of age. As James Carafano points out in his article in the Washington Examiner today, the discovery a valuable new world brings with it the need to protect that world. Nearly everything in our lives today is connected to the Internet. You possibly woke up to your iPhone buzzing from an e-mail from your boss and then turned on the lights that …
Throughout the world, countless violations of basic human rights occur every day, but, as Representative Frank Wolf (R–VA) quoted Simon and Garfunkel, “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” On January 12, The Heritage Foundation hosted Wolf, a champion of human and religious rights around the world, for the presentation of his book, Prisoner of Conscience: One Man’s Crusade for Global Human and Religious Rights. Leaders in the Administration, media, and society at large appear to have lost passion for standing for the Tibetans, supporting …
