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.
Disaster response, recovery, and resilience in rural America
English Summary
Rural America faces disproportionate and complex disaster risks due to structural vulnerabilities, including aging infrastructure and limited local administrative capacity. The analysis argues that current federal disaster policies are largely reactive, failing to provide sustained support for mitigation and preparedness efforts. Policy reform must shift funding away from post-disaster aid toward non-competitive investments that build long-term institutional capacity and social capital at the local level. Furthermore, effective policy requires moving beyond single risk metrics to account for varied social and organizational vulnerabilities, ensuring that federal support maintains its role as a financial backstop while empowering local resilience.
中文摘要
美國農村地區因結構性脆弱性（包括老化的基礎設施和有限的地方行政能力）而面臨不成比例且複雜的災害風險。本分析指出，現行的聯邦災害政策大多屬於被動應對性質，未能為減災和預備工作提供持續的支持。政策改革必須將資金從災後援助轉移至非競爭性投資，從而建立地方層面的長期制度能力和社會資本。此外，有效的政策需要超越單一的風險指標，納入多樣的社會和組織脆弱性考量，確保聯邦支持在維持其作為財務後盾角色的同時，能夠賦能地方的韌性。
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