In this edition of insights, we address issues of budgetary spending, cyber resilience, data breaches, and Iranian negotiations. Read the insights below, and, of course, we encourage you to read the articles in full and inform yourself on these important issues:
“You often hear that in these polarized times, Republicans and Democrats are deadlocked on almost everything. But the real scandal is what both sides agree on. The best example of this might be the defense budget. Last week, the Democratic House, which Republicans say is filled with radicals, voted to appropriate $733 billion for 2020 defense spending. The Republicans are outraged because they — along with President Trump — want that number to be $750 billion. In other words, on the largest item of discretionary spending in the federal budget, accounting for more than half of the total, Democrats and Republicans are divided by 2.3 percent. That is the cancerous consensus in Washington today.” - Fareed Zakaria [Past TCG Speaker], Washington Post, MORE
“The time for new cyber strategies is over. The United States should work to achieve ‘cyber resilience,’ in which we actively manage the risk posed by even the most persistent nation-state actors...this year the Cyber Solarium Commission, a bipartisan national commission established to create a comprehensive U.S. cyber policy, is hard at work trying to ‘provide strategic guidance and policy recommendations on how to defend ourselves against cyber threats.’ The Solarium is the latest effort in a long list of similar commissions intended to come up with a new approach to solving our cyber insecurity.” - Rob Knake, Council on Foreign Relations, MORE
“In just the last month the Federal Trade Commission has brokered settlements with Facebook, Google and Equifax over data breaches and mishandling of consumer information. If you squint, it looks a bit like justice served. Together, these weak enforcements reveal a structural asymmetry between data brokers and the government. The old enforcement mechanisms of regulatory agencies (fines, public shaming) are no match for the size of these companies and the unprecedented amount of lucrative personal information they possess. In this way, the feds seem only to partially grasp the business models of the companies they seek to regulate. Facebook, Google and Equifax all derive their profit and power from collecting data and controlling its supply in an economy where demand for data is insatiable. Any effort then to check that power — or curb those profits — can come only from changing the ways these companies amass our personal information.” - Charlie Warzel, New York Times, MORE
“Iranian officials now appear to be negotiating—and rather than using back-channels, they’re doing it in plain sight. Iranian officials, most notably the foreign minister, have been angling for diplomacy with Washington. And Tehran’s provocations in the Gulf, if you look past the breathless headlines, can be seen as a crucial part of their good cop-bad cop negotiating strategy—one that reinforces persuasion with intimidation. Taken together, the signals suggest that Iranians are setting the table for talks, and if President Donald Trump is serious about wanting to ‘make Iran great again,' he should make the most of this opportunity before tensions spiral out of control.” - Suzanne Maloney, Politico Magazine, MORE
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Common Good.
