Cato has played a key role in making the case for restraint in Ukraine, highlighting the need to distinguish US interests from Ukrainian ones and ensure that military aid to Ukraine and sanctions on Russia are commensurate with America’s stake in the conflict.

Cato defense and foreign policy scholars have had numerous pieces published in the country’s top three popular foreign policy journals (Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and War on the Rocks) over the past year. Cato director of defense and foreign policy studies Justin Logan and Cato nonresident senior fellow Joshua Shifrinson’s Foreign Affairs essay “Don’t Let Ukraine Join NATO” was the most-read article in that outlet the week it was published.

In November 2023, Cato senior fellow Eric Gomez published the policy analysis “Taiwan’s Urgent Need for Asymmetric Defense,” which included the first publicly available detailed breakdown of a nearly $20 billion US-arms-sale backlog to Taiwan. The backlog dataset sparked significant interest from members of Congress and the press. On the Hill, the dataset led to meetings with staff from approximately 10 offices, including members of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. In the press, the dataset was cited in the Wall Street Journal and Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

Cato was a leading voice pushing back against US efforts to provide unprecedented concessions to Saudi Arabia—namely, a formal security guarantee and help to develop a civilian nuclear program—in return for Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel. While normalization of relations between Israel and its neighbors should be encouraged, it should not come at the cost of US strategic interests. Jon Hoffman, Cato research fellow, authored a comprehensive policy analysis, “Pariah or Partner? Reevaluating the US-Saudi Relationship,” asserting that it is time to fundamentally reorient the relationship between Riyadh and Washington. In September, Hoffman presented his findings at a Capitol Hill briefing and was cited in the Washington Post on the issue.