Defense and National Security

Our government’s foremost Constitutional duty is to protect the United States and its citizens by providing for our common defense. Unfortunately, the world is not getting any safer. Our men and women in uniform are currently engaged in a large scale armed conflict in Afghanistan while simultaneously maintaining strategic military positions around the world.  The U.S. is also part of a coalition-led military intervention in Libya. 

No fighting force in the history of the world has ever been tasked with such a wide array of responsibilities. To facilitate our troops’ success we must ensure that our military is equipped with what it needs, when it needs it. However, at the beginning of next year, an across-the-board spending cut known as a “sequester” will go into effect and cripple our nation’s military.  Sequestration will only hurt our national security at a time when our nation needs to be protected.  It is bad policy and should be replaced.  

This does not negate Congress’s duty to force the Pentagon to identify and remove wasteful and duplicative programs to ensure that taxpayer funds are used to benefit our troops on the ground.  But this must be done in a responsible way that keeps our soldiers safe and national security intact. 

Over the past 70 years the nature of the threats to our nation’s security has changed. Since WWII, through the Cold War, and into the present day our military has had to rapidly adapt to combat these new threats. Combating terrorism and the groups that use it is the number one priority of the modern military. To that end, we must secure our borders in order to prevent terrorist attacks on American soil. In Afghanistan we must avoid strict timelines that allow our enemies to plan around our future movements.  It is important that we do not leave a region until it is secure.  In Congress I am working to make sure that America’s military power is not diminished and that our armed forces remain capable of meeting these challenges.