Climate Change:

A piece for Scientific American cited the Niskanen Center in its analysis of the climate change section of the second GOP debate. The Niskanen Center’s president, Jerry Taylor, was quoted discussing the growing trend among mainstream Republicans to support policies that cut greenhouse gas emissions, and that the Republican candidates may benefit from using the topic to distinguish themselves from their rivals.

In an article for Ecowatch, the Niskanen Center was cited as one of several conservative groups advocating for solid debate and policies on energy and climate change.

Civil Liberties / Technology:

The Niskanen Center’s Ryan Hagemann wrote a piece for Capx on encryption and the growing desire by law enforcement to establish a workaround to allow them access to data at will. Mr. Hagemann argues that not only is such a ‘backdoor’ concept technologically flawed, it could undermine valuable online capabilities (mobile banking, for example) and would create security risks of its own.

In a piece for Watchdog, coauthored with Evan Swarztrauber, Mr. Hagemann discusses the recent veto of state-based drone regulation by California’s Governor Brown. The article argues that the veto supports “permissionless innovation,” and allows drone technology to mature without being restricted by cumbersome regulation.