Hoover Daily Report | October 1, 2025

Today, H.R. McMaster explores the intent of a rare gathering of all of America’s flag officers in a Quantico, Virginia, Marine base auditorium to hear from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Glenn Tiffert and Kevin Gamache find there is an increasing amount of US-Iranian research cooperation occurring today, even as Iran launches increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks on global research institutions. And scholars from Hoover’s Financial Regulation Working Group launch a landmark collaboration with the European Central Bank to predict what may cause the next global financial crisis.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
- Welcome to the Hoover Daily Report.
Ideas Advancing Freedom.
It's Wednesday, October 1st, 2025.
- Today, HR McMaster exploresthe intent of a rare gathering
of all of America's flag officers
in a Quantico, VirginiaMarine base auditorium.
To hear from defensesecretary Pete Hegseth,
Glenn Tiffert and Kevin Gamache,

(00:21):
find there is an increasing amount
of US Iranian researchcooperation occurring today.
Even as Iran
launches increasinglysophisticated cyber-attacks
on global research institutions.
And scholars
from Hoover's financialregulation working group
launch a landmark collaboration
with the European Central Bank to predict
what may cause the nextglobal financial crisis.

(00:41):
- Secretary Pete Hegseth'sconvocation, the Warrior ethos
and our military's covenantwith American society.
On his Substack, seniorfellow H.R. McMaster,
comments on defense secretaryPete Hegseth's gathering,
Tuesday, of all US militaryflag officers in Virginia.
He welcomes the emphasis onreturning to the warrior ethos
and walking back thesocial engineering excesses

(01:03):
of the Pentagon duringthe Biden administration.
As some measures such asinvoking identity politics
could "Weaken the bonds ofsacred trust among warriors
in a way that is destructiveto combat effectiveness."
But he says that part ofreturning to the Warrior ethos
involves keeping partisanpolitics out of the military.
Specifically, he pointedout that any suggestion

(01:24):
from Hegseth or othersthat generals and admirals
might have to leave the service
if they didn't meet asubjective assessment of loyalty
to the new administration,risks bringing military leaders
into the realm of partisan politics.
- Iran's S&T ecosystem, a primer
for research securityprofessionals, in a new publication

(01:45):
for the NSF Secure Analytics Program
distinguished research fellow,
Glenn Tiffert and Kevin Gamache report
on the state of Iran's Scienceand Technology ecosystem
and the ways in which itinteracts with the United States.
They find that the US
is the top international research partner
for scholars in Iran with thenumber of joint publications
growing 250% between 2015, and 2024.

(02:09):
But they also observe thatsome of these publications
originate from partnershipsbetween US researchers,
some of whom receive federal funding
and Iran-based co-authorswho are designated
on certain US sanctions lists.
They also find thatIranian security agencies
and the military are engagedin a sustained campaign
of cyber-attacks on researchinstitutions around the world.

(02:31):
- Strategika Issue 101,"Battlefield Medical Supremacy."
The latest issue of Strategika
dealing with militarymedicine is now available.
Inside, former veteranfellow Jeremy Cannon
writes about the serious task of preparing
to avoid preventable US combat deaths
in a future confrontation.
Renowned trauma surgeon Sherry M. Wren

(02:51):
writes about battlefield medicalcare, our national culture,
and balancing the needs of manyversus the needs of the few.
And Emily Mayhew, Chronicles the history
of Battlefield Medicinefrom Czarist Russia
to the Global War on Terrorism.
- The Hoover Institutionand European Central Bank,
team up to pinpoint threatsto global financial stability.
In a landmark collaboration,

(03:12):
the Hoover Institution'sFinancial Regulation working group
joined forces with theEuropean Central Bank or ECB
to tackle one of themost pressing questions
facing the global economy,
what could trigger thenext financial crisis?
The conference drew senior officials
from the world's most influentialfinancial institutions,
including the ECB, the Federal Reserve,

(03:33):
the Bank for International Settlements,
and the European Banking Authority.
Several Stanford scholarsled by Hoover Senior Fellows
and conference co-organizers,
Ross Levine and Amit Seruhelped shape the conversation
ensuring that the latest research
on financial regulationwas debated directly
with the policy-makers and supervisors
charged with safeguardingthe global system.

(03:56):
- "Fifty Years of the ShadowOpen Market Committee" combines
history with lessons forfuture central banking.
A new book Chronicles, thehistory of a group of outsiders
who've evaluated and sometimes criticized
the activities of the US Federal Reserve
over the past 50 years.
It also generates useful discussion
about monetary policyas central banks work
to curb persistent inflation.

(04:17):
Now available in print,
"Fifty Years of the ShadowOpen Market Committee.
A Retrospective on ItsRole in Monetary Policy",
is a deep dive into the 50-year history
of the Shadow Open Market Committee,
a group of private academiceconomist that has acted
as the federal reserve'soutside watchdogs.
Over the years, thegroup has provided candid

(04:37):
and economically-grounded critiques
of the Fed's conduct of policy.
This criticism isespecially important today
as the Fed and other centralbanks around the globe
continue to grapple with persistent
higher than target rates of inflation.
The book is co-edited by Hoover Fellows,
Michael D. Bordo, John B.Taylor, and Mickey D. Levy,
alongside Jeffrey M. Lacker

(04:59):
of the Mercatus Center atGeorge Mason University.

- "Construction Productivity: Strange and Awful." (05:02):
undefined
In the latest episodeof Economics Applied,
Senior fellow Steven J. Davisspeaks with Austan Goolsbee,
President and CEO of theFederal Reserve Bank of Chicago,
to discuss his paper,which attempts to explain
the poor productivity growth observed
in the US construction sector.
The paper charts a decades long decline

(05:24):
in the productivity of theUS construction sector,
and also indicates that thisphenomenon is not caused
by poor measurement ofproductivity in the segment.
This sluggishness results
in terribly, expensivepublic infrastructure
construction costs,
and also makes new housingconstruction more expensive.
What might be the cause of all this?
The answer may be found inRestrictive Land Use Legislation.

(05:47):
- Featured Hooverpublication, The Senior Bulge,
anticipating andaddressing the Aging boom,
the world is experiencing aprofound demographic shift.
A Senior Bulge where those age 65 plus
outnumber younger cohorts forthe first time in history.
This trend driven bylonger-life expectancy
and lower fertility, poses economic,

(06:07):
political and socialchallenges to all societies.
- That's your Hoover Daily Report,
for Wednesday, October 1st, 2025.
Each weekday, we bringyou research, analysis,
and commentary focused on publicpolicy, national security,
and the ideas shaping Americansociety and government.
The Hoover Institutionat Stanford University
is grounded in constitutional principles

(06:29):
with a commitment tosustaining the safeguards
of the American way of life.
Thank you for listening.
For links to all the articles
and interviews mentionedtoday, visit hoover.org/hdr.