Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

House Passes Defense Spending Bill with Veto-Proof Majority Despite Trump Opposition

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Categories: ASCF News National Preparedness Economic Security

Comments: 0

The House passed a $741 billion defense spending bill with a veto-proof margin Tuesday evening in the face of a veto threat from President Trump.

The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which lays out funding and policy priorities for the Defense Department, passed by an overwhelming 335-78 vote, considerably more than the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a presidential veto.

“Today, the House sent a strong, bipartisan message to the American people: Our service members and our national security are more important than politics,” said Democratic Representative Adam Smith, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee. “The House has proven we are capable of legislating and reaching compromise that results in good policy outcomes.”

Over the summer, Trump threatened to veto the bill if it required renaming military assets named for Confederate leaders, a provision included in this bill. More recently, however, the president said he would veto the defense spending bill if it did not repeal a legal shield for social media companies, an unrelated issue. The current bill does not scrap that legal shield, known as Section 230.

On Tuesday before the vote, Trump called on House Republicans to vote against the legislation and repeated his threat to veto the bill.

“Must include a termination of Section 230 (for National Security purposes), preserve our National Monuments, & allow for 5G & troop reductions in foreign lands!” he wrote.

The White House also issued a formal veto threat in a statement.

“Unfortunately, this conference report fails to include critical national security measures, includes provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history, and contradicts efforts by this Administration to put America first in our national security and foreign policy actions,” the White House said.

Republicans in both chambers have nevertheless indicated they intend to pass the bill over the president’s objections.

The bill will now be sent to the Senate, where it is expected to receive a vote on it this week and pass with a veto-proof majority there as well. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has voiced his support for the bill.

Photo: A Soldier at the U.S. Army Air Assault School conducts training at Fort Campbell, Ky., December 3, 2020. (Bryan Woolston/Reuters )

Link: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/house-passes-defense-spending-bill-with-veto-proof-majority-despite-trump-opposition/

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