• America’s Third Founding: May 24, 1924, the Immigration Act of 1924

    On May 24, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signed the National Origins Quota Act, which imposed the first permanent cap on legal immigration. No law has so radically altered the demographics, economy, politics, and liberty of the United States and the world. It has massively reduced American population growth from immigrants and their descendants by hundreds of millions, diminishing economic growth and limiting the power and influence of this country.

  • A Century Ago, Anti-Immigrant Backlash Almost Closed America’s Doors

    Torn between “the American dream” and fears of an ungovernable “melting pot,” Americans have always viewed immigrants ambivalently. In 1924, as is true today, many citizens thought in terms of “good” immigration versus “bad” immigration. The Immigration Act of 1924 dramatically reduced immigration from eastern and southern Europe and practically barred it from Asia.

  • China Conducts Military Drills Around Taiwan as “Punishment” for New Leader

    China kicked off a two-day large-scale military exercise in the water and airspace around Taiwan on Thursday, emphasizing that it is “a strong punishment for the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence forces’” and “a stern warning” against provocation by external forces.

  • Can Taiwan Defend Itself Against China?

    Large-scale Chinese military drills near Taiwan are taking place just days after William Lai Ching-te, of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was sworn in as president of the island nation. Taiwan has expanded its asymmetric warfare capacity, which involves using smaller but highly effective weapons to make an invasion by a larger force prohibitively costly.

  • Militia Extremists, Kicked Off Facebook Again, Are Regaining Comfort in Public View

    When journalists sounded alarm bells in early May 2024 that more than 100 extremist militia groups had been organizing and communicating on Facebook, it wasn’t the first time militias had garnered attention for their online activities. As a scholar of militias, I’ve seen extremists get kicked off Facebook before.

  • Why Biden Wants to Block the Nippon-U.S. Steel Deal

    A proposed Japanese takeover of U.S. Steel, a century-old icon of American industry, is facing domestic political pushback that could challenge the Biden administration’s foreign policy aims. Biden’s opposition to the deal risks undercutting his administration’s efforts to strengthen U.S. alliances and supply chains, experts say.   

  • Student Anger Over the Vietnam War Erupted into Violence in the ’60s − a Terrorism Expert Explores Whether the Same Could Happen Today

    I am a former senior U.S. government counterterrorism official and scholar of national security and terrorism. The wave of recent pro-Palestinian, student-led protests reminds me of another tense era in the U.S. that was also prompted by U.S. engagement in a foreign war – the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

  • Extremist Communities Continue to Rely on YouTube for Hosting, but Most Videos Are Viewed Off-Site, Research Finds

    After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, YouTube was so criticized for radicalizing users by recommending increasingly extremist and fringe content that it changed its recommendation algorithm. Research four years later found that while extremist content remained on YouTube, subscriptions and external referrals drove disaffected users to extremist content rather than the recommendation algorithm.

  • Nuclear Expertise Guides Global Nonproliferation Innovation

    Researchers tackling national security challenges at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are upholding an 80-year legacy of leadership in all things nuclear. Today, they’re developing the next generation of technologies that will help reduce global nuclear risk and enable safe, secure, peaceful use of nuclear materials worldwide.

  • Focused and Fast

    In response to an urgent DOD request, multidisciplinary teams across Sandia delivered in a big way for international security: Enhanced surety program meets urgent request.

  • History Says Tariffs Rarely Work, but Biden’s 100% Tariffs on Chinese EVs Could Defy the Trend

    Earlier this month, President Biden announced a hike in tariffs on a variety of Chinese imports, including a 100% tariff that would significantly increase the price of Chinese-made electric vehicles. Tariffs have a troubled history, but Biden’s move might defy historical precedent and succeed where other tariffs have failed. The Biden tariffs can succeed in giving the U.S. EV industry room to grow, and encourage similar protective actions elsewhere, reinforcing the global shift toward securing supply chains and promoting domestic manufacturing.

  • China's Growing Threat to U.S. National Security in the Crosshairs of Congress

    While the Chinese Communist Party’s possibly imminent invasion of Taiwan could spark a war in the region, experts and lawmakers in Congress on Thursday said that the Taiwan issue is just one part of a broader Chinese strategy countering the U.S.

  • The Supreme Court’s Ghost Gun Case Could Jeopardize Other Firearm Regulations

    Legal experts say the ruling could expand Second Amendment protections to the gun industry, imperiling a host of laws governing the manufacture and sale of firearms.

  • Lack of Operational Control at Northern Border Poses National Security Threats

    The northern border largely has been unmanned and understaffed for decades as federal reports issue conflicting conclusions about how much, or how little, operational control exists. All this while a greatest number of terrorist watch list individuals being apprehended at northern border.

  • Israel’s Invasion of Rafah Will Not Eliminate Hamas or End the War. So, What Is Benjamin Netanyahu’s Plan?

    The longer the war has dragged on, the more it has highlighted that Israel, which has been under Netanyahu’s almost continuous rule since 2009, has no long-term strategy for living side-by-side with its Palestinian neighbors. Even if a ceasefire could be agreed to, Netanyahu’s government hasn’t articulated a plan for the “day after”. Already, this lack of a plan is creating a dangerous power vacuum in northern Gaza that has been filled by gangs, clans and criminals.