Editorials

Fresh off his acquittal – when the United States Senate sent a clear message that President Trump is, in fact, above the law – the President is behaving exactly as we should expect.

When it comes to national security, good intelligence is the best defense. The key to good intelligence is facts, data, unvarnished analysis, and no politics. That this bears repeating in today, as we face threats from domestic terrorism to nuclear weapons, is alarming to us as the former chairman and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

It was the fall of 2007, and I was at a briefing with the Director of National Intelligence – at the time, Adm. Mike McConnell – and Melissa Hathaway, the director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force. We huddled in a secure, windowless room in the U.S. Capitol. I wasn't surprised they were asking a member of Congress for money. I was surprised by how much they were seeking: about $17 billion.

Admittedly, neither one of us appreciated how fundamental space is to how we live and work until we served on the House Intelligence Committee.

We quickly learned that America no longer owns space. We operate there along with every other space-capable nation, including adversaries like China and Russia. We learned that they are doing everything in their power to interfere with our operations. We learned that future wars will take place in space.

And we quickly realized the grim truth that we aren't ready.

The National Security Agency is 31.2 miles from the front door of the White House.

When President Trump first came into office, I invited him to tour the agency located in my district at Fort Meade, Maryland, at his convenience. I often take new Members of Congress to NSA – I'm taking a group of freshmen next week, in fact – and it would make sense for our new Commander in Chief to want to see our country's signals intelligence headquarters and meet some of its people.

I never heard back.

If it wasn't already abundantly clear that President Trump has little regard for the federal workforce, it should be now.

There are tough votes, and then there are votes that break your heart.

My vote yesterday in support of a procedural rule to advance what's known as the Farm Bill was one that broke my heart. That's because members of the Republican Party's most conservative wing — with the approval of House Speaker Paul Ryan — snuck in a last-minute provision that would make it harder for Congress to end U.S. support of the Saudi coalition at war with Yemen. A war that is causing unspeakable suffering for the innocent people of Yemen.

The Trump administration originally dubbed the deployment of up to 15,000 active-duty troops to the southern border Operation Faithful Patriot. It's possible that the faith and patriotism of America's soldiers will be tested like never before.