Cato’s foreign and defense policies are guided by the view that the United States is relatively secure, and so should engage the world, trade freely, and work with other countries on common concerns, but avoid trying to dominate it militarily. We should be an example of democracy and human rights, not their armed vindicator abroad. Although that view is largely absent in Washington, D.C. today, it has a rich history, from George Washington to Cold War realists like George Kennan. Cato scholars aim to restore it. A principled and restrained foreign policy would keep the nation out of most foreign conflicts and be cheaper, more ethical, and less destructive of civil liberties.
Defense and Foreign Policy
Featured Event
Space Force: Ahead of Its Time or Dreadfully Premature?
The growing strategic importance of outer space encouraged the United States to establish its first new military branch since 1947: the U.S. Space Force. The Space Force, which will celebrate its first birthday in December, will be heavily laden with advanced technology, but will it have the right organizational characteristics and firm foundation of strategic thinking to take advantage of its capabilities? Is the Space Force ahead of its time, or is its creation as an independent service dreadfully premature?
Featured Content
No Substitute for Strategy: What’s Wrong with “Defending Forward”
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies’ latest report promises a restoration of the worst foreign policy ideas since the end of the Cold War. It should be ignored.
China’s Terrifying Return to Maoism
A recent report out of the U.K. reveals Beijing’s full‐scale, wide‐ranging assault on individual liberty in almost all its aspects.
The National Security State Shields One of Its Own Miscreants–Again
While national security insiders are routinely given the kid‐glove treatment that Sandy Berger, David Petraeus, and Kevin Clinesmith received, the experiences of whistleblowers who dare expose even the most blatant misdeeds by those agencies are very different indeed.
Building a Modern Military: The Force Meets Geopolitical Realities
Security comes through prudence, not overwhelming force, permanent alliances, or massive investments in weapons platforms.
Information Technology and Military Power
Why do military forces with state‐of‐the‐art weaponry still bog down in war? Military innovation and performance depend on what Jon Lindsay calls “information practice,” or the ways in which soldiers actually use technology in the battlefield. As military operations have become more complex over the past century, military personnel have had to struggle with their systems as much as with the enemy.
Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Dream Team Is Disappointing
Surveying the views of the Biden foreign policy team, one is struck by the extent of utterly conventional thinking.