On counterterrorism, we're still fighting the last war

Ryan Greer for New America: One overarching challenge to improving counterterrorism tactics is that much of the policy revolution in the last few years has been a revolution in speech or in structure, but only rarely in funding or action, let alone in evaluation to assess what even works.

For example, consider the challenge of sharing information on foreign fighters. Providing this information to Interpol may involve reducing sensitive data (e.g., intelligence derived from a war zone) to only what is appropriate for law enforcement and also may reasonably be assumed to fall into the hands of any Interpol member, including Russia, who could misuse information provided by the U.S. or other sources. ... These challenges highlight that encouraging trust among global partners is paramount, that bilateral exchanges of information are still critical for sensitive issues, and that both civil liberties and intelligence concerns must be represented throughout the policy process.

Similarly, many efforts to counter terrorist propaganda and the use of the Internet have been announced but have yet to achieve much progress. In the United States, it was only in June that the government released its first domestic grants for those purposes. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is unsure of whether he will allow the State Department to spend its resources for that mission. Clearly, expecting strong results any time soon would be premature.

Want a raise? Work for the government

Chris Edwards for Cato at Liberty: Federal worker compensation is rising faster than compensation in the private sector. On average, federal workers now earn 80 percent more in wages and benefits than other Americans. The data come from the Bureau of Economic Analysis ...