The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
Politically Motivated Killers: 51 Years of Terrorist Murders on US Soil, 1975–2025
English Summary
This report argues that politically motivated terrorism remains a minuscule and overstated threat to Americans, accounting for only 0.35% of all murders between 1975 and 2025. Drawing on 51 years of data, the analysis shows that 88% of terrorist fatalities resulted from just two extreme events—9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing—while the overall frequency of attacks has not significantly increased over time. Consequently, the author concludes that expanding federal domestic counterterrorism efforts or targeting specific political groups is a disproportionate response that threatens civil liberties without a sound empirical basis.
中文摘要
本報告指出，政治動機的恐怖主義對美國民眾而言仍是一項極微小且被誇大的威脅，在 1975 年至 2025 年間僅佔所有謀殺案件的 0.35%。根據長達 51 年的數據分析顯示，88% 的恐怖活動死亡人數源於兩起極端事件：九一一襲擊事件與奧克拉荷馬市爆炸案，且攻擊的整體頻率隨時間推移並未顯著增加。因此，作者認為擴大聯邦政府的國內反恐力道或針對特定政治團體，乃是缺乏穩固實證基礎且威脅公民自由的不對等回應。
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