Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

A good offense is a good defense

A good offense is a good defense
Getty Images

Kevin Frazier is an Assistant Professor at the Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University. He previously clerked for the Montana Supreme Court.

A good offense is a good defense. That quip--attributed to George Washington and every NFL commentator--deserves more attention in the national security context. More specifically, our “civil defense”--the capacity of our governing institutions to respond to emergency situations--requires significant attention and investment.


There’s no shortage of novel and substantial threats facing our country. Some fear a conflict between the U.S. and China arising out of a fight to safeguard Taiwan’s autonomy. Others forecast an AI takeover or “runaway” AI creating unstoppable bioweapons. Many anticipate that the next “100-year storm” might cause a thousand-years worth of damage. Regardless of your own assessment of those threats, we can all agree that our governing institutions have become more fragile in recent decades. That’s a troubling disparity: the likelihood and severity of threats growing at the same time our institutions see drops in competency and public confidence.

This dynamic should motivate a new wave of “civil defense” efforts akin to those adopted by the Truman administration in the 1950s. In the early days of the Cold War, President Truman acted on the public’s widespread fear of disorder and destruction following an atomic war by signing the Federal Civil Defense Act in 1951. The resulting Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) led a wave of preparedness activities around the country, including the creation and operation of warning systems, researching the most secure fallout shelters, and storing emergency supplies. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to question the merit of some of these efforts. Case in point, did New York City need to spend more than $150,000 on identification bracelets for kids? Probably not. Projects like that don’t need repeating in the modern era, but other lessons have stood the test of time.

In particular, contemporary advocates for a more resilient America should take a page out of the FCDA’s emergency playbook and get to work on developing the laws, procedures, and norms that governing institutions will adhere to if and when certain catastrophes occur. How, for instance, should a state government proceed in the event of an election being entirely annulled due to an earthquake, an AI attack, or some other act that causes a substantial fraction of the population from having access to the polls? Similarly, if an attack on the physical infrastructure of a local or state government takes place, where will the government relocate? These “sky-is-falling” situations may appear unlikely but a failure to answer them now may add civil unrest to whatever damage the attack or disaster brought on.

A failure to imagine, anticipate, and prepare for worst-case scenarios has often led to abuses of power. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, for example, Governor Poindexter transferred control of the functions ordinarily exercised by the state government to a U.S. Army General, Walter Scott. General Scott promptly took extraordinary and, arguably, unconstitutional measures, including closing the state’s courts.

In the same way that Governor Poindexter likely never pondered the possibility of his state being the setting of a major military strike, many leaders today have likely not thought through how civil order will be maintained when that hurricane comes, that AI attack is launched, or that bomb goes off. The severe, unpredictable, and uncontrollable threats that confront us today will cause harms that upend day-to-day governance. The duration and significance of that disruption, however, is somewhat under our control.

The relative calm of today should not go to waste. With high-level support from the federal government, local and state leaders should develop more than just succession plans--the magnitude of modern risks necessitates clear guidelines for when and how to rerun an election, for determining how courts will operate, and for allocating resources amidst unprecedented public need. Civil defense is not a cheery topic, but it’s a necessary one, just ask George Washington (or Kirk Herbstreit).

Read More

This isn’t the first time moms have been blamed for their kids’ autism

There are echoes of mother-blaming in how President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are now talking about autism, pregnancy and vaccines.

(Getty Images)

This isn’t the first time moms have been blamed for their kids’ autism

JJ Hanley can still remember the pediatrician’s words.

It was the early ’90s, and the mother of two in suburban Chicago had begun to worry that her toddler-age son, Tim, was showing language delays and other behaviors that didn’t align with his older brother’s development. Hanley turned to her son’s doctor, who declared: “There’s nothing wrong with him. What’s wrong with him is you.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Fulcrum Roundtable: Political Violence

Protest, person holds sign Silene = Violence

Fulcrum Roundtable: Political Violence

Welcome to the Fulcrum Roundtable.

The program offers insights and discussions about some of the most talked-about topics from the previous month, featuring Fulcrum’s collaborators.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rebuilding Democracy After Comey’s Indictment
James Comey, former FBI Director, speaks at the Barnes & Noble Upper West Side on May 19, 2025 in New York City.
(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Rebuilding Democracy After Comey’s Indictment

Introduction – Stress Tests and Hidden Strength

The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey in September 2025 was a stark reminder of how fragile our institutions have become under Trump 2.0. An inexperienced prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, chosen more for loyalty than expertise, pushed through felony charges at the president’s urging. The move broke with the Justice Department’s tradition of independence and highlighted the risks that arise when political power bends justice toward retribution.

This is not just a story about one man. It is a warning that America’s democracy is like a bridge under heavy strain. Crises expose cracks but can also reveal hidden strength. For ordinary citizens, this means a justice system more susceptible to political pressure, a government less accountable, and daily life shaped by leaders willing to bend the rules for personal gain.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Independent Exodus
two stickers with the words i vote on them
Photo by Mockup Free on Unsplash

The Independent Exodus

Every week, thousands of Americans - who live in the 30 states that register voters by party - go to the post office, DMV, or download a voter registration form, and change their registration status from “Democrat” or “Republican” to “Independent.”

This trend is accelerating. Nationally, 43% of Americans identify as independent. In a handful of states, registered independents outnumber Democrats and Republicans combined. But the response to this trend from the politics industry has been “nothing to see here, people…the two-party system is alive and well.”

Keep ReadingShow less