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Defense and National Security

As nations engage in a race for global advantage in innovation, ITIF champions a new policy paradigm that ensures businesses and national economies can compete successfully by spurring public and private investment in foundational areas such as research, skills, and 21st century infrastructure. Our work on defense and national security covers topics such as weapons systems, innovation in defense and homeland security agencies, and the role of defense R&D in spurring innovation and competitiveness.

Defense and National Security

Publications and Events

February 28, 2023|Blogs

Groupthink Is To Blame for Recent TikTok Bans

A growing number of countries have banned TikTok for alleged security threats. If the threat from China is real, a TikTok ban alone is too limited, but if the threat is overstated, these bans are a wasteful exercise in security theater. Either way, these bans are misguided.

February 3, 2023|Blogs

Time For Congress to Beef Up Funding for DIU’s National Security Innovation Capital Program

At the height of the Cold War, perhaps the most important U.S. national mission was to drive military innovation to ensure that the Soviet Union’s numerical superiority (in terms of soldiers and weapons) would not translate into superiority on the battlefield. The current geopolitical landscape presents a similar challenge in the United States’ rivalry with China, which is investing heavily to surpass the United States in technological capabilities to gain a global economic advantage and at least military parity in the Indo-Pacific region.

January 20, 2023|Blogs

America’s National Security Concerns Over China Shouldn’t Imperil Its Leadership in Technical Standards Development

In responding to China’s growing efforts to influence standards, the United States should not copy its approach to standards setting in closing off participation to foreign enterprises. Instead, the Biden administration and its like-minded trading partners in Australia, Japan, Singapore, and beyond should revert to first principles as agreed at the WTO and double down on their support for open, transparent, and industry-led standards development, which together demonstrates good governance for standards setting.

January 16, 2023|Op-Eds & Commentary

When Facts About China Change, Elites Should Change Their Views Too

China’s aspiration to become the new global hegemon calls into question the “Washington Consensus” that free markets and unfettered globalization maximize U.S. and global welfare. But for true believers, that is unacceptable. So, the idea China is a threat must be destroyed intellectually.

October 24, 2022|Blogs

Using Country-of-Origin as a Litmus Test for Drone Security Is Bad Policy

While intended to protect national security, the updated American Security Drone Act would still do little to bolster drone security and would limit government agencies from using some of the best-in-class drones.

July 1, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary

Biden’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Is a Paradigm Shift

The United States can no longer afford to trade U.S. market access for geopolitical alignment, and other nations can no longer afford to stay on the sidelines as the United States does the hard work of limiting China’s economic, technological, and foreign-policy aggression alone.

June 22, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary

The World After Ukraine

Putin’s attack should galvanize real foreign policy, defense policy, and industrial policy cooperation among democratic, allied nations.

June 6, 2022|Podcasts

Podcast: When the Chips Are Down: Why Domestic Semiconductor Production Matters, With John Zysman

Rob and Jackie sat down with John Zysman, a professor emeritus at UC Berkeley and co-founder/co-director of the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, to discuss why U.S. semiconductor production has dropped so far down, what it portends, and how America can regain its footing in the industry.

March 31, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary

Breaking Up Big Tech Would Help Xi Jinping

The Biden administration and its “Neo-Brandeisian” supporters in Congress are seeking to break up large tech companies, but national-security-minded advisers warn it would strengthen America’s biggest ad­versary, China. They're right, just as an earlier generation of national security advisers was right to warn the Eisenhower administration against breaking up AT&T.

February 24, 2022|Op-Eds & Commentary

The SECRETS Act Adds a Critical New Defense Against IP Theft Threatening U.S. Tech Leadership

Acting against Chinese IP theft is a rare area of bipartisan support in U.S. trade policy, and the SECRETS Act provides a chance for U.S. policymakers and the Biden administration to take a stand against such parasitic practices by enacting a new law.

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