The Cut Off
BLUF: Countries have used sanctions to punish other countries and force policy changes since the BC era. Modern economic sanctions against countries, companies, and people are now one of the…
Columnist
Kate Hewitt
Columnist
Kate Hewitt currently works in national security and is the founder of THE BABES BLUF, a current affairs and lifestyle blog with a monthly column for Inkstick Media. Previously, she was a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow and Research Assistant with the Foreign Policy program at The Brookings Institution focused on nuclear security and strategy issues. She also served as a Community and Organizational Development Adviser in Peace Corps Moldova and held internships with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Energy Northwest. Kate was a recipient of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Rieser Award (2018), an N Square Nuclear Security Innovation Fellow (2018), and a Farsi Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow (2017). She has authored articles, reports and book chapters on national security, foreign policy, and the importance of women in STEM and national security — the latter of which is a passion of hers that she exercises by sitting on the Board of Advisors for Girl Security. She holds an M.A. in Global Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a dual-BA in Political Science and Philosophy from Gonzaga University.
The High Price of Oil
BLUF: Gas prices in the US are at an all-time high, but are not the result of one pandemic, war, or president. Instead, massive fluctuations in oil demand from COVID-19 converged perfectly…
Always Verify
BLUF: Sharing false or misleading information is not a new concept. Russia’s use of disinformation and propaganda dates back to decades before the Ukrainian invasion or social media.…
NATO: Mean Girls Edition
BLUF: Tracing its roots back to 1947, perhaps the most well-known and effective alliance has been the political and military allegiance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). From…
High Heels and Security Clearances
BLUF: Though women are often considered better leaders and their role in management often leads to higher profits, women are still significantly underrepresented and overly discriminated…
Package (Not) Delivered
BLUF: The year 2021 has seen supply chains and shipping disruptions of epic proportions. With consumerism on the rebound from COVID-19, supply chain kinks are being ironed out, but the…
Politics is the New Black
BLUF: Weighing in at $2.5 trillion dollars, the global clothing industry is responsible for sparking political discourse through its role in climate, consumerism, race, and human rights…
The Babies BLUF
BLUF: For the sixth consecutive year, the American birth rate fell in 2020. Factors contributing to the decline include concern by the current childbearing generation over economic,…
Red, White, and Reformed
*Trigger warning: This BLUF discusses sexual assault and may be traumatic to individuals who have experienced such an event in their lifetime.* BLUF: Twenty thousand US military…