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The federal government’s primary responsibility is to protect our national security, an area where the Obama administration and its former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, have consistently failed.
The Obama-Clinton foreign policy has included unenforced “red lines” in Syria; dismissing ISIS as a “jayvee team” while allowing it to grow into the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world today; weakening our border security; admitting thousands of refugees into our country without any plans to properly screen them; reducing the size and strength of our military, and rewarding Iran – the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism – with a sweetheart deal that paves the way for economic recovery and the eventual achievement of nuclear weapons capability.
Taken together, this disastrous record has made the United States less safe and should disqualify Clinton from serving as our next commander in chief.
Donald Trump is the clear choice for voters who want a foreign policy that will restore American leadership in the world. I recently participated in a national security roundtable with Trump at his campaign headquarters in New York. We discussed strategies for defeating radical Islamic terrorism and keeping America safe. Throughout the meeting, Trump reinforced that ensuring the safety of the American people will be his administration’s top priority.
Unlike Clinton, Trump is committed to fully investing in our national defense. He understands that building a stronger America requires rebuilding our military.
Under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, our military has shrunk to its smallest level since World War II. As president, Trump will rebuild our Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force to levels suggested by national security experts, including the Army’s chief of staff and the bipartisan National Defense Panel. Trump also is proposing to modernize our missile defense system, which has been degrading under Obama’s and Clinton’s watch. Trump is right when he says that we must deter, avoid and prevent conflict through unquestioned military strength.
In addition to strengthening our traditional military standing, Trump wants to improve our cyber capabilities.
As chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, I held a hearing on the consequences of a massive, coordinated attack on the electrical grid. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate testified that states and localities should be prepared to face weeks, rather than days, of power outages following such an assault.
A Trump administration would guard against this by directing a thorough review of our cyber defenses to identify vulnerabilities, and then develop a plan to immediately protect those vulnerabilities.
If we learned anything from Clinton’s disastrous tenure at the State Department, marked by her record of leaving unsecured our nation’s most sensitive national security secrets on her private email server, it is that we must do everything we can to protect against cyberattacks.
Importantly, Trump will care for the members of our military after their service ends. Trump believes in the fundamental principle that the men and women who serve our country should have easy access to the best quality care; no veteran should die waiting in line for health care. Trump’s plan includes measures to decrease wait times, improve health care outcomes, and facilitate a seamless transition from military service to civilian life.
Trump’s message of taking care of our veterans and rebuilding our military is resonating with voters and national security experts across the country who believe in putting Americans first. Recently, 14 Medal of Honor recipients endorsed Trump’s candidacy, and former Clinton CIA Director James Woolsey joined the Trump campaign as an adviser. Woolsey praised Trump’s commitment to “reinstating the United States’ primacy in the conventional and digital battle space.”
While Clinton thinks that millions of Americans should be placed into what she calls “the basket of deplorables,” Donald Trump has a plan to keep every American safe.