Hoover Daily Report | October 8, 2025

Today, Hoover’s Bio-Strategies and Leadership Initiative releases a new report on securing biology in an age of new threats; Victor Davis Hanson examines the historical forces behind the rise and decline of the post-WWII international system; and Eugene Volokh testifies before members of the United States Senate on the use of government authority to persuade or pressure individuals or other private actors. 

Hoover Daily Report | October 8, 2025

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
- Welcome to the Hoover Daily Report.
Ideas Advancing Freedom. It'sWednesday, October 8th, 2025.
- Today, Hoover's Bio Strategies
and Leadership Initiativereleases a new report on securing
biology in an age of new threats.
Victor Davis Hansen examinesthe historical forces
behind the rise in decline
of the post World WarII international system

(00:22):
and Eugene Vick testifies
before members of the UnitedStates Senate on the use
of government authority topersuade or pressure individuals
or other private actors
- Securing biologyrequires critical action.
Hoover Scholars urge in newreport biosecurity really a
strategy for victory.
A landmark reportcalling for urgent action

(00:43):
to secure biology now
and in perpetuity was releasedtoday by the Bio Strategies
and Leadership Initiativeof the Hoover Institution.
The report warns thatbiosecurity risks are increasing.
Emerging technologies suchas artificial intelligence
and other trends are makingbiological threats more
numerous, frequent and consequential.
The authors outline

(01:03):
how emerging biotechnologymust itself be used
to secure biology.
Akin to how software isrequired to secure software.
Advancing and securing biotechnologyinnovation is essential
for securing biology.
Stated senior fellow Drew nd, lead, author
and science fellow atthe Hoover Institution
added distinguishedvisiting fellow Mike Kiken.

(01:25):
Biosecurity requires USleadership in emerging
biotechnology.
Leadership means innovation.
We must advance the field to secure it.
The publication of biosecurityreally was also covered in
Axios vitals
- At the end of the post-war world.
At Hoover's new Substack publication,
freedom Frequency Senior fellowVictor Davis Hansen traces

(01:45):
the establishment of
and current challenges facingthe American led post-World
War II international economicand political system.
In the postwar period.
Hanson writes, the cautiousAmerican taxpayer at first was
willing for both magnanimous
and self-interestedreasons to foot the bill
for world custodianship
and in the new Cold Warcontained Soviet expansionism By

(02:08):
lifting up Europe and Asia,
the United States would gain markets
for its post-war economic juggernaut.
But in time after cascadingchallenges from Vietnam
to nine 11 through theLong War in Afghanistan,
and as the global orderweakened statesmen were confused
over what ought to replacethe alliances commitments
and international agenciesof the past 80 years,

(02:30):
this remains a challenge
as there is still no definitiveanswer about the extent
of America's proper, current
and future role, both in the Western world
and the international community.
- Volek testifies
before Senate Committee on Commerce,
science and Transportation.
This morning, senior fellowEugene Volek testified
before the United StatesSenate Committee on Commerce,

(02:52):
science and Transportation.
In a hearing titled Shut Your App,
how Uncle Sam Jawboned BigTech into Silencing Americans
As Volek Notes in his written testimony
to Jawbone has been definedas to attempt to persuade
or pressure by the force ofone's position of authority,
especially when done by the government.

(03:12):
Volek reviews several examples
of Jawboning ranging from pressure applied
by New York state againstbanks doing business
with the National RifleAssociation to a letter sent
by the Cook CountyIllinois Sheriff to Visa
and MasterCard requesting theycease processing transactions
on a website used foradvertising illegal services.
AKs testimony also considerspossible congressional

(03:35):
legislative actions thatcould help draw lines
that courts might be reluctant to draw,
including requiring transparency
around federal agency communication
with private entities on issues
that may affect American speech,
- Monetary fiscal interactions.
In a working paper publishedat the National Bureau
of Economic Research, seniorfellow John H. Cochran examines

(03:57):
the relationship between monetaryand federal fiscal policy.
In recent years, Cochran argues
that inflation surged in 2021
to 2023 from a classic fiscal shock, money
and debt that financedhuge spending without a
plan for repayment.
Neither money nor supplyshocks offer a coherent
alternative explanation.
Inflation eased

(04:17):
with no recession oncethe fiscal shock was over.
Higher interest rates couldhave brought inflation down
earlier Cochrane rights,
but could not havestopped it going forward.
Higher interest rates willraise debt service costs,
and thus perversely raise inflation
unless fiscal policy can tighten.
The paper concludes that high debt
and structural deficits also mean

(04:38):
that the US may lose the fiscal space
to borrow in the next crisis.
- Investing in politicalexpertise, the remarkable scale
of corporate policy teams in a new paper,
senior fellow Andrew B. Halland co-author Anna Sun, define
and measure a previously unstudied channel
by which companies react to
and attempt to shape politicsinternal policy teams.

(05:01):
The authors use the text ofmore than 100,000 job listings
to classify the roles
of roughly 100 million workersidentifying more than 250,000
individuals working in policyroles in the US Hall and Sun.
Estimate that policy teams arevery roughly 13 times larger
in size than lobbying teams on average

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and are increasing insize relative to lobbyists
and other corporate positions.
Over the last twodecades, the authors find
that policy teams and lobbyists appear
to be compliments both across firms
and within increases in lobbying,
predict increases in policyteam size taken together.
The paper's findings show
that corporations investfar more in politics than

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previously recognized.
- Featured Hooverpublication, Silicon Triangle,
the United States, Taiwan, China,
and Global Semiconductor Security.
A joint report of the Hoover Institution
and the Asia Society Centeron China relations Silicon
Triangle analyzes thedynamic global supply chain
in semiconductors.

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In this area, US industryfaces growing vulnerabilities
as China aggressively promoteshomegrown semiconductor
mastery and Taiwan finds itself
with a crucial monopoly onhigh-end logic chips sought
by buyers globally.
- That's your Hoover Dailyreport for Wednesday,
October 8th, 2025.
Each weekday, we bringyou research, analysis,

(06:25):
and commentary focused on publicpolicy, national security,
and the ideas shaping Americansociety and government.
The Hoover Institution atStanford University is grounded in
constitutional principleswith a commitment
to sustaining the safeguardsof the American way of life.
Thank you for listening.
For links to all the articles
and interviews mentionedtoday, visit hoover.org/hdr.