"I worry that there’s a temptation to overstate the terrorist threat. It is not an existential threat." "Demonizing Islam and demonizing Muslims is self-defeating. It will make the problem worse." These are two of the statements made by former Secretary of Defense and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency Robert Gates at the Naval …
Continue reading “Robert Gates, Pro and Con”
"I thought that when we showed up for class, someone else would be teaching it," said one of my students at the start of my class on Monday, April 7, 2014. "Really?" I asked. "Why?" "Because of that question you asked the Admiral on Friday," he answered. I looked around and saw the looks on …
Continue reading “Questioning the Powerful”
My Hoover Institution colleague Richard Epstein recently argued ("Rand Paul’s Fatal Pacifism," Defining Ideas, September 2) for an interventionist foreign policy. Although his attack is on Senator Rand Paul, it is much broader than that. He claims that libertarians are “clueless on the ISIS threat” and that “libertarians often have the illusion of certainty.” I’m …
Continue reading “Richard Epstein’s Faulty Case for Intervention”
The Naval War College, based in Newport, Rhode Island, runs a special 11-month course for foreign Navy officers. On February 3, the Naval War College held a special morning session at the Hoover Institution, where I am a research fellow. I was invited to speak. The best invites, in my experience, are those for which …
Continue reading “An Economist’s Case for a Non-Interventionist Foreign Policy”
Last week, something exciting happened in U.S. politics. It was exciting in itself, and even if nothing else had come of it, it still would have been exciting. But what made it even more exciting is what followed – the reaction to this event that various people at various parts of the political spectrum had. …
Continue reading “Rand’s Stand”
On Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, I gave a talk at the Rotary Club of Monterey. I’ve spoken there two or three times in the past, always with a good response, but always on economic issues. This time I decided to push the envelope by making my case that the Iranian government, while it is a …
Continue reading “Is Iran a Threat?”
David Henderson appeared on John Stossel’s show on the Fox Business channel January 19, 2012. He debated regular Fox contributor Colonel David Hunt on “war, Ron Paul’s foreign policy views, Israel, 9/11, and Iran.” Watch the clip: Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com
There’s no doubt that antiwar activism among the left has declined substantially since Barack Obama became president. That has led many people to claim that the apparent antiwar views of many on the left were not so much antiwar as anti-Bush. I’m sure that there’s something to that, but there’s also a more nuanced explanation. …
Continue reading “The Left’s Antiwar Movement in Monterey: Down but Not Out”
David R. Henderson’s Introduction: The first part of this article’s title is absurd, right? How could the head of the CIA, a man who sends drones to kill alleged terrorists and ends up killing not only terrorists, but also many innocent people, be a saint? Well, you probably don’t live in the Monterey area. I …
Continue reading “Is Leon Panetta a Saint—or a War Criminal?”
Introduction In 1945, the flagship journal of the American Economic Review published one of the ten most important economics articles of the 20th century. Entitled “The Use of Knowledge in Society,” it was written by an Austrian economist named Friedrich Hayek. I deal with this article in every economics course I teach. (For the notes …
Continue reading “Adm. Mullen’s Spinning vs. Prof. Hayek’s Insight”