When a nation deploys ground forces, an inverse relationship exists between the number of military deaths and public support. This stark and monolithic metric, which economists call the “casualty sensitivity” effect, requires close examination today. On the modern battlefield, contractor personnel die at rates similar to—or indeed often in excess of—soldiers, yet the U.S. public… Continue reading Dead Contractors: The Un-Examined Effect of Surrogates on the Public’s Casualty Sensitivity
Category: Issue Archive
Virtual Checkpoints and Cyber-Terry Stops: Digital Scans To Protect the Nation’s Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources
The cybersecurity risks to the nation’s critical infrastructure and key resources are significant and increasing every day. While a sound legal basis exists for the government to use computer intrusion detection technology to protect its own networks, critical infrastructure and key resources, primarily owned by the private sector, are governed by a different set of constitutional principles and laws. This article… Continue reading Virtual Checkpoints and Cyber-Terry Stops: Digital Scans To Protect the Nation’s Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources
Outsourcing Covert Activities
Over the past decade, the United States has radically shifted the way it projects its power overseas. Instead of using full-time employees of foreign affairs agencies to implement its policies, the government now deploys a wide range of contractors and grantees, hired by both for-profit and nonprofit entities. Thus, while traditionally we relied on diplomats, spies, and soldiers to protect and promote our interests abroad, increasingly we have turned to hired guns. Contrast the first Gulf War to later conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.