Issue Position: National Security

Issue Position

As a member and former Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Rockefeller has been a strong leader defending our military personnel, protecting our country's national security, and improving and reforming the country's intelligence capabilities.

In the wake of the tragic September 11 terrorist attacks, Senator Rockefeller also played a major role in crafting and implementing reforms that have significantly strengthened the nation's intelligence capacity. Recent operations to take down Osama bin Laden and other senior Al Qa'ida leaders are a testament to the improvements in intelligence sharing and integration of operations that have developed over the past ten years, with Senator Rockefeller's leadership and support.

Senator Rockefeller is also working to fulfill the last recommendation of the 9/11 Commission by creating a nationwide, wireless network of first responders to help prevent the kind of communications failures that occurred during rescue efforts at Ground Zero. He also recognized the need for significant improvements in the security of our rail network, ports, inland waterways system, and highways, and has continued to work on innovative ways to protect the national transportation infrastructure.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, our troops have won every battle they have fought, and Senator Rockefeller believes the time has come for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan to take control of their own security. We can - and must - defend our country and its national security interests in a fiscally responsible way.

Senator Rockefeller is also a strong advocate of West Virginia's National Guard members who have risked and sacrificed much to protect our freedoms both at home and abroad. With top notch training facilities and response centers throughout the state, the West Virginia Guard has become a national leader in disaster response training. Senator Rockefeller has long pushed for legislation to elevate the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to a position on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, giving the Guard the equal voice it deserves. In 2005, he helped turn back the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission's recommendation to relocate the Charleston-based 130th Airlift Wing to North Carolina. The victory preserved the 130th and kept hundreds of the members and their families in the Charleston area

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