Mission
American statecraft has two overriding tasks: deter a catastrophic war with China and keep an honorable peace that protects U.S. interests and values.
Today, America isn’t planning effectively to achieve these goals. Essential expertise is trapped in disciplinary silos, partisan bubbles, and allied and partner countries.
Meeting the China challenge demands integrated judgement across history, politics, economics, technology, military affairs, industry, and diplomacy—and a focused conversation about how to turn that judgement into action.
About this newsletter
This newsletter publishes 1–2 times per month. It isn’t a news aggregator, aspiring media brand, or hot take factory. It’s a place for substantial and original ideas, constructive problem-solving, and tightly written briefs for decision-makers.
The main focus is Taiwan deterrence—with a wide-angle lens. We’ll look at issues like how China is preparing for financial war, the state of the U.S.–Japan alliance, deterrence trends in space and undersea, strategic competition for the Arctic, timeless lessons from the Pacific War, and the race to dominate AI and quantum. Most importantly, we’ll explore how these disparate themes and challenges fit together.
We all have strong feelings about partisan politics and domestic policy. In this space, we check these opinions at the door and focus on the mission.
If you share these values, I hope you’ll subscribe and join the conversation.
About me
I’m Eyck Freymann, a Hoover Fellow at Stanford and a Non-Resident Research Fellow at the U.S. Naval War College, China Maritime Studies Institute.
I’m the author of several books, including The Arsenal of Democracy: Technology, Industry, and Deterrence in an Age of Hard Choices; On Day One: An Economic Contingency Plan for a Taiwan Crisis; and One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World.
I advise policymakers in the United States and allied countries on national security topics, and I’m a Director at Greenmantle, a consultancy, where I advise businesses and asset managers on Indo-Pacific macro, defense, and technology issues.
I write and am quoted frequently in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Economist, War on the Rocks, The Wire China, and The Atlantic, among other venues, as well as on television and radio.
Before Hoover, I was a research fellow at Harvard and Columbia. I hold four degrees in history and China Studies from Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard.
My work uses historical sensibility to understand present-day problems. I draw on open-source primary material in Chinese and other languages, global fieldwork, and research collaborations across many disciplines.
In short: my job is to be a strategic integrator who helps to put the pieces together.
My books
The Arsenal of Democracy: Technology, Industry, and Deterrence in an Age of Hard Choices (with Harry Halem, forthcoming November 1, 2025, Hoover Institution Press)
Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War with China (forthcoming April 1, 2026, Oxford University Press).
On Day One: An Economic Contingency Plan for a Taiwan Crisis (with Hugo Bromley, July 2024, Hoover Institution Press)
One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World (Harvard Asia Center Press, 2021)
More about me
