The Lexington Institute was honored to welcome Shannon Kellogg, Vice President of Amazon Web Services Public Policy for the Americas, as a featured speaker at our July 24 Capitol Hill Tech Conference. He discussed the critical role of data centers in maintaining U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence and the vast benefits Amazon’s data centers provide to communities. These include, “good jobs, new tax revenue, infrastructure improvements, and support for local schools and community programs.” In addition to providing extensive documentation [ Read More…]

From its seat in Brussels, the European Union (EU) regularly introduces, enacts, and enforces legislation targeting American tech companies. The argument is always the same: U.S. platforms extract enormous value from European markets, pay too little for the privilege, and enjoy advantages of scale no European competitor can match. Each new instrument — data protection, gatekeeper rules, digital levies, minimum taxes — dares to close that gap. Each has failed. Some of this stems from broad, structural issues. The EU’s [ Read More…]

The Lexington Institute was honored to welcome Katherine Sutton, Assistant Secretary of War for Cyber Policy and Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of War, as the opening speaker at our July 24 Capitol Hill Tech Conference. She discussed the breakthrough capabilities the Department of War is bringing to warfighters, the important role of the private sector, the need to continually build security and resilience into technology, and much more. She said, “Our nation already possesses the essential ingredients for [ Read More…]

The Houthi terror strikes are part of Iran’s last-ditch effort to fight U.S. dominance with terrorism against international shipping, American forward bases, and key infrastructure like data centers in the Gulf states.  FOX News Channel’s anchor Molly Line kicked off the discussion. Highlights below, and the show clip here. Molly Line: President Trump says he is weighing a “massive attack” on Iran saying it would be bigger than ever before.  It looks like potentially a new front is opening up [ Read More…]

Sooner or later, there will be a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. Whatever the resolution of territorial borders is, an independent Ukraine will, at minimum, continue to exist west of the Dnieper River with Kiev as its capital. Both countries are waging successful aerial drone assaults on each other, but the political shocker is how successfully Ukraine is hitting Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Russia’s oil refineries. Russia’s air defense has once again been exposed to the world as subpar, [ Read More…]

Sweeping right-to-repair legislation is a feel-good fix, but it could drive away new defense companies and slow down major industry players. Read below and here. Right to repair conjures up images of fixing farm tractors or repairing motorcycles at independent shops.  According to the American Farm Bureau, 75% of the agricultural machinery sold in the U.S. is covered under right-to-repair memoranda signed by Kubota, Deere, CNH Industrial, and other industry leaders. The tide has also swept into defense budget debates [ Read More…]

On July 14, New York Governor Kathy Hochul became the first governor to sign an executive order imposing a statewide moratorium on data centers. The Washington Post was highly critical of this in a July 15 editorial. The editorial emphasized how many other Democratic governors recognize the value of these facilities, and are open to innovation and related investments, while withstanding political pressure for moratoriums. In a letter to the editor, Lexington’s Paul Steidler discussed the major benefits that data [ Read More…]

To register, click here The Lexington Institute invites you to attend our Capitol Hill Conference on AI, Cyber, & Tech Policy Priorities on July 24 from 12:00-3:00 PM. This forum will examine the most important technology policy issues facing Congress and the administration, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data centers, antitrust enforcement, competition with China, and more. The event will feature a series of 10-minute speeches by leading policymakers, industry executives, scholars, and subject matter experts. Speakers will offer their perspectives [ Read More…]

On July 6, 2026, China launched a rare intercontinental ballistic missile test from a Type 094 submarine on an alarming trajectory over the Pacific.  Catch the discussion with John Batchelor, Gordon Chang, and Rebecca Grant, covering China’s motives, the importance of America’s nuclear Triad modernization, and mastery of the long-range kill chain across the Pacific.  Highlights below, and segment link here. John Batchelor: We’re eager to hear from Rebecca Grant, our colleague, to understand the crisis caused by People’s Republic [ Read More…]

By Paul Steidler: After a month of hype, Humans First, a group claiming to represent many “conservatives” opposed to data centers is today holding a national day of protest at 125 or so locations. Judging by the one I attended in Charles Town, West Virginia, and other factors, the organization at best is off to a slow start. I wanted to go to a demonstration near me and figured it would be a short drive. I live a few miles [ Read More…]