Executive Director @ForFreeMarkets, Founder and ED @FightExtremism, former @StateDept @USUN. RTs not endorsements.
Joined February 2018
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David Ibsen retweeted
SAFE and @CRESenergy have led a coalition of 14 organizations to Congress to swiftly pass the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act. The stakes are clear with America's current permitting system, which has not kept pace with its strategic needs.
When critical infrastructure takes years to approve and build, the nation grows more dependent on foreign suppliers for the energy, materials, and manufacturing capacity that underpin economic growth and national security.
The full list of signatories: SAFE, CRES, @60PlusAssoc, @ACC_National, @ForFreeMarkets, @AFPhq @C3SolutionsNews, @ClearPathAction, @ConservAmerica, @ConsEnergyNet, @GoldwaterInst, @Protectaxpayers, Rainey Center Freedom Project.
Press release: secureenergy.org/safe-cres-c…
Permitting reform is also a national security issue. When approvals for pipelines, transmission, and domestic mining take years, we risk greater dependence on foreign energy and supply chains.
Pleased for AFFM to join @CRESenergy, @Securing_Energy and others in supporting BAAJA.
Today, CRES and @Securing_Energy led a coalition of 15 organizations in a letter to @SpeakerJohnson and @LeaderJohnThune urging swift passage of the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act.
Permitting reform will lower energy costs and help America build, and the time for Congress to act is now.
Read the full letter: cresenergy.com/wp-content/up…
Permitting and environmental reviews can be rigorous while also being timely and capable of producing clear, durable final decisions.
Pleased to join @PacificLegal and 35+ organizations supporting BAAJA. Permitting delays discourage investment and raise costs for American consumers.
pacificlegal.org/press-relea…
1/3 Interesting argument from Ian Bogost in @TheAtlantic: Terrorists have long adapted civilian technologies for malicious purposes, from automobiles and communications technology to the internet.
AI may likewise amplify existing threats without fundamentally changing their nature.
“AI’s role in cyberterrorism is likely to be the same as the internet’s: an amplified capacity to produce and disseminate propaganda, confusion, and political manipulation,” @ibogost argues. theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/1…
2/3 This distinction matters. Studying online extremism at @fightextremism, I saw how even well-intentioned efforts to address genuine threats could threaten free expression and invite government overreach.
AI risks deserve attention, but speculative scenarios shouldn't justify sweeping restrictions.
3/3 New technologies don't necessarily require new regulatory frameworks. First ask how AI changes existing threats, whether current safeguards are adequate, and where new protections are needed.
I explored this issue in @NRO: nationalreview.com/2026/09/d…
1/3 @citrinowicz is right to warn about the limits of military force. Force has its place, but its effectiveness depends on clearly defined, limited objectives.
In my interview with @CBC News, I warned that another war with Iran seems almost inevitable and could be the most devastating yet.
Iran is unlikely to surrender. Instead, Tehran could target Gulf energy facilities, civilian infrastructure and undersea communications cables, potentially dragging the entire region into a much wider conflict.
As I warned before the previous wars, military force offers no silver bullet. Trump now faces only bad and worse options.
#IranWar
#iran
cbc.ca/news/world/united-sta…
2/3 After Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran's nuclear infrastructure was badly damaged, its defenses exposed, and its regional influence diminished. The US had demonstrated overwhelming military and intelligence superiority.
My letter in the @nypost on the OCC's debanking findings.
The irony is that federal regulators are now documenting the consequences of a problem government itself helped create.
Removing reputational risk was an important first step. Congress needs to make the reform permanent and address the broader regulatory pressures driving debanking.
nypost.com/2026/10/24/opinio…
AI requires compute, and compute requires data centers.
As this article from @dcfrontier illustrates, regulatory decisions increasingly determine where that infrastructure gets built—and which communities benefit from the investment, jobs, and tax revenue.
Economic opportunities don't disappear. They move elsewhere.
datacenterfrontier.com/machi…
David Ibsen retweeted
In the face of ongoing disruptions in energy supplies, a coalition encourages @POTUS to announce an extension of your Jones Act waiver.
@AmerComm @AFPhq @aea @ForFreeMarkets @taxreformer @CFEconomy @CFandP @CTR4Transport
@ceidotorg @ConsumerChoiceC @exiledpolicy @VanceGinn @IWF @Pinpoint_Policy @RioGrandeFndn
@SBECouncil @JoinYoungVoices
1/5 In exploring how best to regulate AI, this @ColumbiaMag article actually highlights several good reasons for regulatory restraint. First, we still don't fully understand AI's risks and potential impacts.
Why @Columbia researchers say we can govern AI even as we’re still learning how it works. magazine.columbia.edu/articl…
4/5 Fourth, premature regulation would entrench today's dominant AI companies. Large firms can absorb compliance costs that smaller competitors cannot, potentially limiting innovation and competition.
5/5 None of this means AI should be exempt from oversight. But creating entirely new regulatory frameworks before we fully understand the technology, its risks, and the adequacy of existing protections may do more harm than good.
We should understand what needs regulating before deciding how to regulate it.
Debanking didn't start on Wall Street. It started in Washington.
Good discussion with @RealEJAntoni and the great Drew Steele on @FLVoiceNews.
🚨WHO'S REALLY TO BLAME FOR DEBANKING?: Chief Economist at the @Heritage Foundation reveals how the practice of DEBANKING came from Washington regulators
@RealEJAntoni: "[Congress needs] to formally BAN this kind of nonsense on the part of the regulatory state!"
China has built more high-voltage transmission in the past 15 years than the entirety of U.S. history. Meanwhile, America is still waiting years – sometimes decades – for federal permits to build the same infrastructure.
🎯Yellen, Kudlow and co. got it right.
NEWS: 19 FORMER ECONOMIC AND NATIONAL SECURITY LEADERS ENDORSE THE BIPARTISAN PERMITTING REFORM BILL
Today, a group of former Cabinet members and White House principals across seven Democratic and Republican administrations sent a letter calling on Congress to pass BAAJA. Here are the signatories:
Janet YELLEN, Michael R. POMPEO, Steven T. MNUCHIN, Leon E. PANETTA, Timothy F. GEITHNER, Henry M. PAULSON, Jr., Robert E. RUBIN, Stephen MIRAN, Jared BERNSTEIN, Tyler GOODSPEED, Jason FURMAN, Glenn HUBBARD, Laura D’Andrea TYSON, Michael J. BOSKIN, Jeffrey ZIENTS, Jake SULLIVAN, Brian DEESE, Larry KUDLOW, Allan B. HUBBARD
Key highlights from the letter:
1. “We are not building infrastructure fast enough to remain globally competitive… The median time for a new power plant to move from an interconnection request to commercial operation has more than doubled, from less than two years for projects built between 2000 and 2007 to more than four years for projects built between 2018 and 2024.
2. China has built more high-voltage transmission in the last fifteen years than the U.S. has built in all of its history... In 2024, China accounted for 31.5% of global knowledge- and technology-intensive manufacturing value added, compared with 20.7% for the United States.
3. Federally funded or permitted projects require NEPA review, but private projects often do not, creating a threat of failure precisely where the government is trying to be proactive, strategic, and engaged.
4. A project that spends years awaiting approval must continue carrying development and financing costs while remaining exposed to rising input costs. The IEA reports that prices for utility-scale transformers increased 26% in 2024, while lead times for some transformers have stretched as long as six years.
5. Mining projects also face tremendous uncertainty: a 2026 study by researchers at the Colorado School of Mines found that permitting for modern mining projects takes an average of 5.5 years, rising to 8.9 years for contested projects. The U.S. currently has the second-longest mine development timeline in the world.
6. The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act is the most significant bipartisan legislative effort that Congress has undertaken in decades to tackle these challenges.
7. BAAJA addresses key constraints stifling American industry by requiring interregional transmission planning, strengthening the federal backstop for nationally significant transmission lines, and creating a faster, more predictable process for connecting new generation to the grid.
8. BAAJA also makes permits more durable by imposing tighter timelines for litigation and limiting frivolous lawsuits that can halt projects indefinitely, while preserving community input and judicial review of substantive agency decisions.”
The letter was organized by @arnabdatta321 on behalf of @IFP and covered exclusively by the WSJ this morning.
@JamesMorrone highlights the real costs of permitting delays, including a power line that waited 16 years for approval!
Environmental review should address legitimate concerns, not become a tool for indefinite obstruction. Once those concerns are addressed and legal requirements met, projects—whether wind, gas, or nuclear—need certainty to move forward.
Unnecessary delays discourage investment and ultimately raise energy costs for American consumers.
Permitting is broken, and it costs us jobs and higher electricity bills.
Take the TransWest Express power line. Applied in 2007. Approved in 2023.
It’s a power line, not a pyramid. My op-ed on why we need BAAJA's reforms now: washingtonexaminer.com/op-ed…
