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Hoover Daily Report | May 7, 2026 · Hoover Daily Report

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  Welcome to "the Hoover Daily Report". Ideas Advancing
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  Freedom.
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  It's Thursday, May 7th, twenty twenty six.
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  Today, John Deutch and David Fedor call for a comprehensive reassessment of
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  America’s approach to national security and defense policy; John Taylor reflects
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  on the origins and impact of the influential Mont Pelerin Society; and
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  Margaret Raymond shares stories and takeaways from Hoover’s Unheard Voices
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  Project, which featured interviews with education stakeholders across the
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  country.
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  Managing National Security in a Time of Geopolitical Transition.
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  A new essay by Distinguished Visiting Fellow John Deutch and Policy Fellow
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  David Fedor argues that the current US national security structure, designed for
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  the Cold War era, is ill-suited for today's strategic competition era. The
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  modern landscape is characterized by simultaneous rivalry with China and
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  Russia—a less stable tripolar nuclear state—a reality that is not well
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  addressed by the United States’ 20th-century approach to geopolitics.
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  This essay addresses the radical changes needed in defense policies, institutions,
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  and expenditures to confront this challenge. Deutch, a former director of
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  central intelligence, and Fedor, who worked closely for years with the late
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  George P. Shultz, argue that the current geopolitical transition is not a policy
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  choice but rather a new reality demanding immediate changes to defense policies,
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  institutions, and budgets to protect US and allied interests.
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  The Mont Pelerin Society.
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  In a new episode of Reflections from the Hoover Institution Library & Archives,
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  Senior Fellow Emeritus John B. Taylor recounts the founding of the Mont Pelerin
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  Society in a village in Switzerland in 1947. The idea was the brainchild of
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  economist Friedrich von Hayek, best known for his 1944 book, The Road to Serfdom.
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  Hayek convened a small group of economists and other thinkers to discuss
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  ways to defend free-market capitalism at a time when the appeal of socialist
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  central planning was ascendant. Among the participants were economists Ludwig von
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  Mises and Milton Friedman, as well as political philosopher Karl Popper.
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  Schools That Don’t Engage the Community Are Squandering Assets.
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  “I thought the shocking and dispiriting story we heard in our first community
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  conversation would likely turn out to be an outlier,” Distinguished Research
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  Fellow Margaret Raymond writes at The74, reflecting on her nine conversations with
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  82 parents and community members across the country as part of Hoover’s Unheard
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  Voices Project. But outlier it was not. Raymond relates how the project, “focused
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  on communities with public schools that persistently performed at the bottom of
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  their state’s distribution,” uncovered numerous cases where community
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  participants “reported ostracism and persistent refusal of school leaders to
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  engage with local stakeholders.” Some even declined to participate in
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  discussions due to fear of reprisals. Raymond encourages state and local
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  leaders to “lean in to partnering with disconnected stakeholders,” noting how
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  these partners can help improve schools and communities. “A motivated community
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  is a terrible thing to waste,” Raymond says.
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  Fed Independence: In Search of Balance.
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  The Federal Reserve, founded in 1913, has experienced a century of shifts between
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  minimal oversight and political pressure. But after the turbulent 1970s, it became
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  clear that more-independent central banks did offer the benefits of lower inflation
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  without sacrificing growth, Senior Fellows John H. Cochrane and Valerie A.
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  Ramey argue in this essay for Freedom Frequency. Yet in a democracy, they point
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  out, a completely independent institution is unsuitable. Created by Congress, the
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  Fed must respect checks and balances even as it manages inevitable political
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  pressures. Cochrane and Ramey argue that the time is right for the Fed to rein in
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  the scope of its activities and return to its proper mandate, while keeping its
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  hard-earned form of autonomy.
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  Taiwan’s Opposition Risks Missing the Lessons of the Wars in Ukraine and Iran.
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  In an op-ed for CommonWealth Magazine, Distinguished Visiting Fellow Matthew
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  Pottinger and coauthor Seamus Boyle “explore a few lessons Taiwan should take
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  to heart from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.” This piece comes on the eve
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  of an important vote in Taiwan’s legislature on that island’s defense
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  budget, over which the opposition KMT party is internally divided. “First,” say
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  Boyle and Pottinger, “Taiwan’s opposition should remember how Ukraine and Iran’s
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  mass production of aerial and sea drones helped deny two of the world’s most
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  powerful navies—Russia’s and America’s—from operating in the Black Sea
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  and the Persian Gulf, respectively.” The authors also emphasize the importance of
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  multilayered air defenses and “formidable offensive capabilities” to deter
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  potential aggressors. Pottinger and Boyle conclude that applying these lessons by
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  passing a strong defense budget “will enhance Taiwan’s ability to deter
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  aggression and to deal with Beijing from a position of strength.”.
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  This Month in Hoover History: Technology, Innovation, and the Future of the US
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  Economy.
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  As part of the Hoover Institution’s centennial celebrations in 2019,
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  Senior Fellows Stephen Haber, Edward Lazear, and Amit Seru
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  led a panel discussion on the sources of prosperity in the United States over the
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  past century and its drivers over the next century. The scholars also addressed
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  the ongoing debate about the impact artificial intelligence and robotics will
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  have on standards of living.
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  That’s your Hoover Daily Report for Thursday, May 7th, twenty twenty six.
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  Each weekday, we bring you research, analysis, and commentary focused on
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  public policy, national security, and the ideas shaping American society and
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  government.
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  The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is grounded in constitutional
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  principles with a commitment to sustaining the safeguards of the American
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  way of life.
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  Thank you for listening.
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  For links to all the articles and interviews mentioned today, visit
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  hoover.org slash, HDR.