As a senior member of both the Senate Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees, Claire is a leading voice in strengthening our military and better protecting Americans from threats at home and abroad.

Claire consistently highlights the critical role that Missouri plays in the nation’s defense—from production of F/A-18 Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers, to Whiteman Air Force Base’s drone squadron, to Ft. Leonard Wood’s training school, to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency's St. Louis facility—and fights to maintain that role.

She has played a major part in shaping the annual defense bills, demonstrating that we can strengthen our military, and support our troops and their families, while still being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. She has successfully fought to include priorities like expanding mental health resources for the Army National Guard, strengthening the Pentagon’s POW/MIA recovery efforts, and prohibiting taxpayer funding for infrastructure projects that cannot be secured or sustained in Afghanistan. She has led the effort to strengthen the process used for security clearance background checks, and has fought for policies to keep potentially dangerous materials out of the hands of terrorists and cut U.S. assistance to countries that enlist or force children into their ranks as soldiers. Claire has also worked with the National Military Family Association to support military spouses by letting teachers transfer credentials across state lines.

And in recent years, as Republican leaders in Congress have pursued a strategy of pumping resources into the Pentagon’s off-the-books war budget, Claire has called for honesty from those leaders—blasting those budget gimmicks that hide the true cost of military programs and undermine America’s military readiness, rather than tackling budget caps and domestic security needs head-on.

Missouri’s Role in Our Nation’s Defense

Claire is a longtime supporter of the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the EA-18 Growler. Built in St. Louis, both aircraft have proven records of outstanding performance—with the Super Hornet providing the kind of versatility military leaders need for combat operation, and unparalleled when tested against competitors, and the Growler’s unique abilities in providing an airborne electronic attack capability for our warfighters. Claire knows that, as budgetary pressure has grown over recent years, the F/A-18 Super Hornet has remained reliably cost-effective and has consistently been delivered ahead of schedule. Claire has successfully secured resources in several defense bills for the aircraft, and has highlighted the production line’s importance to America’s military operations in Armed Services Committee hearings. Claire has been honored by the Navy with the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award for her advocacy of the Super Hornet, and her work to secure a multi-year procurement contract to purchase additional F/A-18 fighters to help address carrier strike fighter shortfalls. Understanding that America’s national security is strengthened when our allies have the platforms necessary to support our military in combat operations, she has
written President Obama in support of the sale of Missouri built airframes to Kuwait and Qatar, and has been a vocal supporter of the Pentagon’s sale of Super Hornets to Australia and Brazil.

A consistent advocate for Whiteman Air Force Base—home to the A-10 and the B-2 steal bomber—Claire has fought to keep base closures from affecting Whiteman, and has brought top Pentagon leaders, including former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, to tour the base’s unique capabilities. She has helped shepherd new resources to the base, including the authorization of $29.5 million for a consolidated operations facility at the base to help maintain the installation’s leadership in strengthening America’s readiness. Last year Claire visited the 20^th Reconnaissance Squadron at Whiteman, where she was briefed on operations and had the opportunity to speak with several drone pilots. Following the visit, Claire wrote to the Air Force to address the unique stresses felt by Airmen “deployed on station”—flying combat missions against enemy forces and immediately going home to their families after a long shift with no adequate way to decompress, and questioned whether the use of private civilian contractors to relieve pressure on the pilots is effective or efficient.

Claire is a champion for Fort Leonard Wood, and has highlighted the installation’s role as a premier training facility, helping bring resources to the base for construction projects, bringing senior Army officials to tour the base, improving substance abuse programs, and ensuring the surrounding community is supported. In Armed Services Committee hearings, Claire has touted the unique capabilities of the base, including the Fort’s chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response training school as well as its Sapper Leadership Course, which has been a national model for opening more military jobs to female servicemembers.

And Claire successfully advocated at the highest levels of government to highlight the strengths of St. Louis as the continued home for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA). She met directly with the NGA Director to discuss the merits of keeping its operations in St. Louis. Working with other Missouri leaders, she urged President Obama, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to recognize the North St. Louis site as the best place for NGA operations.

Combating Terrorism

Claire is a cosponsor and strong supporter of legislation to bolster the battle overseas against the terrorist organization that calls itself the Islamic State, and to bolster police resources and close loopholes that allow suspected terrorists to legally purchase weapons and firearms.

The Defeat ISIS and Protect and Secure the United States Act would, among other things:

• require the President to identify one individual as the ISIS “czar” who would be fully empowered to coordinate and manage the United States’ efforts to defeat the Islamic State
• direct the President, Secretary of State, and USAID Administrator to develop a comprehensive strategy to counter-ISIS propaganda using the most effective tools, including social media, to focus programs on youths at risk of radicalization
• allow federal agencies to provide technical and operational assistance to      European Union nations in order to improve migrant screening in Europe and      increase the capacity for refugee reception and processing
• direct the Administration to create a coalition to disrupt ISIS’s financing
• improve screening technology and Transportation Security Officers training, including tougher vetting and oversight of aviation workers and secure areas within airports
• authorize a new office at the Department of Homeland Security dedicated to stopping      homegrown extremism
• requiring the federal government to issue a strategy for locking down the highest risk radiological material in our hospitals and industrials sites

To date, Republican leaders in Congress have failed to act on the legislation.

Claire has also grilled U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter about U.S. efforts to combat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and the serious refugee crisis in neighboring Jordan.

Previously, she cosponsored the Weapons of Mass Destruction Prevention and Preparedness Act, to authorize tens of millions of dollars in funding for state and local preparedness grants—and has led the efforts to renew the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant program that provides grants to cities and towns to hire police officers, modernize equipment and reduce crime. She also backed legislation to establish a nationwide First Responder Broadband Network as recommended by the 9/11 Commission.

And Claire has scrutinized the effectiveness and efficiency of the country’s biodefense stockpile—and pressed the Transportation Security Administration, and championed legislation, to improve aviation safety at foreign repair stations that work on U.S. aircraft.

Security Clearance Background Checks

Following security leaks from contractor Edward Snowden and the tragic shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, Claire co-chaired a hearing in which it was revealed that USIS, the company responsible for conducting the background investigations for both Snowden and Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis, was under criminal investigation.

After Claire questioned why USIS had two separate contracts with the federal government—one to conduct background investigations, the other to oversee the quality of background investigations conducted by contractors, including USIS itself—the federal government stopped allowing private contractors to oversee their own work in security clearance background checks.

Claire has teamed up with Senator Jon Tester of Montana to introduce legislation to give the Pentagon’s top watchdog the authority to conduct oversight of the newly-created National Background Investigation Bureau—dedicated to managing the security clearance background investigation processes, which has been plagued by backlogs and cybersecurity concerns in recent years, including a major cyberattack in 2014. As currently envisioned, no single watchdog would have lead oversight authority of the entire agency. Claire and Senator Tester have also introduced bipartisan legislation to increase accountability and oversight of background checks for individuals who can access secure facilities by directing the Office of Personnel Management to terminate or place on leave any employee that is involved in intentional misconduct affecting the integrity of background investigations. Together, they are working to ensure that the creation of the new Bureau is efficient and effective—and have demanded answers about how the new Bureau will be organized and managed, how it will be different than the current Federal Investigative Service.

Iran

Claire believes that the government of Iran can never be allowed to become a nuclear power.

Following the agreement that was struck between the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Iran—to curb Iran's nuclear capabilities—Claire believed it was important to see for herself how the deal was being enforced, and how we and America’s allies were working to stymie Iran’s nuclear ambitions. She led a delegation on which lawmakers held a series of meetings and received direct updates on compliance with the multi-national agreement from the International Atomic Energy Agency Department of Safeguards, and the U.S. Mission to International Organizations. The delegation also met with U.S. personnel to discuss counter-terrorism efforts in the wake of the recent attacks in Brussels, Belgium. The lawmakers traveled to the Kingdom of Jordan, where they met with Prince Faisal Bin Al Hussein on the security issues in the region and the country’s efforts to manage the Syrian refugee crisis—and met directly with Syrian refugees themselves and heard from senior U.S. military officials with U.S. Central Command who gave an update on the ongoing fight against the Islamic State—finally meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli military and diplomatic leaders to discuss enforcement mechanisms in the nuclear agreement with Iran, as well as other security issues.

Claire has long sought to contain and prevent Iran's nuclear capabilities. She strongly supported the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act, legislation to allow for tougher sanctions against Iran for continued enrichment of uranium in defiance of the international community. Claire also cosponsored the Iran Transparency and Accountability Act, legislation that would further enforce existing sanctions against Iran by requiring U.S. companies to disclose any sanctionable investments in Iran in their quarterly and annual reports. The legislation would also require U.S. banks to report sanctionable activities by their foreign correspondent banks.

Accountability in Government

Claire is a nationally recognized leader in fighting for stronger accountability at the Pentagon and across the military branches.

Making good on a campaign pledge, Claire waged a successful six-year effort to rein in wasteful wartime contracting practices in Iraq and Afghanistan—modeled on Harry Truman's famous battle against war profiteering. During the final hours of Claire's first Senate term, her signature legislation implementing historic wartime contracting reforms was signed into law.

Seeing American taxpayer dollars spent on infrastructure projects overseas while infrastructure at home suffered, Claire introduced a measure to strip funds for large-scale construction projects in Afghanistan and redirect those resources for use in the construction of roads and bridges in America, saying: “After years of work on wartime contracting issues, and looking at the way we have spent money through contracting in both Iraq and Afghanistan, I have come to a stark and real conclusion about money that we have wasted and continue to waste in this effort: we are building infrastructure in Afghanistan that we cannot secure and that will not be sustained…” Claire ultimately passed into law measures prohibiting taxpayer funding from use by the Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund, and establishing a permanent prohibition on infrastructure projects in Afghanistan that can’t be accessed by oversight personnel.

And each year since joining the Senate, during committee debate on the annual defense bill, Claire has argued for consideration of the bill to be opened up to the public. The “markup” of the defense bill is largely done behind closed doors, and Claire has annually forced a committee vote on making it public—arguing that Missourians, and all Americans, have a right to know how decisions are being made about defense policy with their tax dollars.