Latest / Hoover Daily Report / Hoover Daily Report | July 31, 2026

Transcript

Hoover Daily Report | July 31, 2026 · Hoover Daily Report

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Hoover Daily Report. "Ideas Advancing
• 0:03
  Freedom." It's Friday, July 31st, twenty twenty six.
• 0:06
  Today, Victor Davis Hanson offers a scenario for what may come next in the US
• 0:11
  war on Iran. C3 AI CEO Tom Siebel speaks to Condoleezza Rice in the latest episode
• 0:15
  of Only in America. And Hoover’s Veteran Fellowship Program marks five years of
• 0:20
  veteran initiatives to help US communities.
• 0:22
  The Iran War at a Crossroads.
• 0:24
  At American Greatness, Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson writes about what he
• 0:29
  thinks will come next in the “bomb, talk, bomb” campaign between the US and Iran.
• 0:34
  “We may see another week or two of intensive strikes against Iran’s dual-use
• 0:39
  infrastructure. At some point, the United States may also seal Pickaxe Mountain and
• 0:44
  any other remaining sites suspected of storing or producing enriched uranium,”
• 0:49
  he writes. “The United States has already severed many of Iran’s rail and maritime
• 0:54
  links to China, Russia, and their allies. It can reopen the Strait of Hormuz by
• 0:59
  force and convert frozen Iranian assets into a maritime insurance fund to
• 1:04
  compensate any foreign tanker damaged by Iranian attacks.” If the US does this,
• 1:09
  Hanson believes American forces could “disengage” by mid-August.
• 1:13
  Tom Siebel on Education, Reinvention, and the AI Revolution.
• 1:16
  Tom Siebel, founder and CEO of C3 AI, joins Condoleezza Rice for a wide-ranging
• 1:20
  conversation on innovation, resilience, and the enduring promise of the American
• 1:24
  experiment. Siebel recounts how his time as a history student at the University of
• 1:29
  Illinois shaped his entrepreneurial instincts as well as the calculated risks
• 1:32
  he took to launch one of Silicon Valley’s most influential enterprise software
• 1:36
  companies. He explains why America’s education system, commitment to liberty,
• 1:40
  and culture of opportunity remain the foundation of its success. Rice and
• 1:44
  Siebel explore the transformative potential of artificial intelligence,
• 1:48
  from increasing the efficiency of government services to democratizing
• 1:51
  lifesaving and productivity-enhancing practical knowledge. Siebel also
• 1:55
  discusses what two serious personal hardships—a harrowing elephant attack and
• 1:59
  the sudden loss of his vision—have taught him about resilience and reinvention.
• 2:03
  VFP at Five: Hoover Veteran Fellows Take Point.
• 2:06
  Condoleezza Rice, the 66th US secretary of state, and Robert Gates, the 22nd US
• 2:11
  secretary of defense, headlined a Hoover Institution gathering marking the fifth
• 2:16
  anniversary of the Hoover Veteran Fellowship Program, an annual yearlong
• 2:20
  program that helps veterans develop actionable projects benefiting their
• 2:24
  communities and the nation. On May 6–8, Hoover convened current and alumni
• 2:29
  veteran fellows for VFP at Five: Taking Point, a three-day celebration of the
• 2:33
  accomplishments and impact of the program’s first five cohorts. The
• 2:37
  anniversary gathering brought together 38 current and former fellows, representing
• 2:42
  nearly every participant since the program’s founding. Fellows presented
• 2:47
  their capstone projects and demonstrated their community impact during the George
• 2:51
  P. Shultz Distinguished in Service Expo in Hoover’s Stauffer Auditorium.
• 2:56
  The World Trade Organization: A Path to Renewal.
• 2:58
  The world trading system is under great strain, even as most trade still takes
• 3:03
  place under multilateral disciplines. US unilateralism, China’s state-driven
• 3:07
  model, cross-border regulatory spillovers, digitalization, and the
• 3:11
  unfinished Doha development bargain have all weakened confidence in the World
• 3:15
  Trade Organization (WTO). Yet according to economist Ralph Ossa, the system’s
• 3:19
  core logic remains sound. Reciprocity, most-favored-nation treatment, and
• 3:23
  binding commitments help restrain discrimination, reduce uncertainty, and
• 3:28
  benefit economies of all sizes. The old WTO model cannot simply be restored, Ossa
• 3:32
  argues, but it can be selectively renewed. The way forward is to preserve
• 3:36
  the multilateral core, make open plurilateral agreements work inside the
• 3:40
  WTO framework, and rely on active stewardship by middle powers to keep
• 3:44
  cooperation moving.
• 3:45
  Space Safety First: Simone Da Mico on Safeguarding Earth’s Lower Orbit.
• 3:50
  On the latest episode of Matters of Policy & Politics, Simonay D’Amico, a
• 3:54
  Hoover Institution science fellow and founder of Stanford’s Space Rendezvous
• 3:58
  Laboratory, discusses his recent report on space safety with Distinguished Policy
• 4:03
  Fellow Bill Whalen.
• 4:04
  Without new investments in communications technology and greater international
• 4:08
  cooperation, D’Amico says, lower Earth orbit may become too crowded for
• 4:13
  spacecraft, leading to satellite damage.
• 4:15
  Featured Research Initiative.
• 4:16
  Fiscal Policy Initiative.
• 4:18
  The Fiscal Policy Initiative researches potential solutions to the nation’s
• 4:22
  fiscal policy challenges, providing a road map that promotes future economic
• 4:26
  growth and opportunity. Led by Senior Fellow Joshua D. Rauh, the initiative
• 4:30
  launched in 2025 with a conference exploring the economic consequences of US
• 4:34
  fiscal policy trends, including extensive discussions of budget projections, debt
• 4:39
  sustainability, international responses to debt crises, the effectiveness of
• 4:43
  government spending and tax policy, and the interaction between fiscal and
• 4:47
  monetary policies.
• 4:48
  That’s your Hoover Daily Report for Friday, July 31st, twenty twenty six.
• 4:52
  Each weekday, we bring you research, analysis, and commentary focused on
• 4:57
  public policy, national security, and the ideas shaping American society and
• 5:01
  government.
• 5:02
  The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is grounded in constitutional
• 5:06
  principles with a commitment to sustaining the safeguards of the American
• 5:10
  way of life.
• 5:11
  Thank you for listening.
• 5:12
  For links to all the articles and interviews mentioned today, visit
• 5:16
  hoover.org slash, HDR.