Issue Position: Keeping America Safe

Issue Position

I will advance policies that keep Americans safe from international and home-grown terrorist threats using strategies that protect American lives without sacrificing our constitutionally-protected liberties.
The Hillary Clinton -- Obama -- Ayotte record of endless nation-building wars has spread chaos throughout the Middle East and failed to keep Americans safe. This chaos has created a breeding ground for terrorism, ISIS and Al Qaeda now controlling territory in eight countries. Since 9-11, these failed wars have killed, wounded or disabled more than one-half million American soldiers and millions more non-combatant women and children.
Ignoring a unambiguous public warning from Defense Secretary Gates, in 2011 Hillary Clinton and Kelly Ayotte pushed to bomb Libya and take out its dictator Muammar Gaddafi. As predicted, Libya is now in its fifth year of deadly civil war and is the latest ISIS beachhead just across the Mediterranean from Italy.
Again ignoring a remarkably prescient prior warning from our military leaders, in 2012 in a failed attempt to take out Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Hillary Clinton, President Obama and Kelly Ayotte backed arming, training and funding the rebel factions which morphed into ISIS.
If not the liberal interventionists' endless failed wars, how can we keep America safe?
Tell our so-called "allies" Saudi Arabia and Turkey to stop promoting and funding terror. Use full US and multinational leverage to halt support for Wahhabi terror ideology of which Saudi Arabia is the world's leading funder. Force Turkey to cease providing medical care for ISIS fighters and shut down black markets and trade routes across the Syria-Turkey border for ISIS oil and plunder.
Engage regional powers. Use American leverage to press major Middle East powers to act economically, diplomatically and militarily in their mutual interest in regional stability. Combined, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan have more than 1.3 million ground troops. Boots on the ground should be Sunni, not American. American soldiers must never be mercenaries for rich Arab monarchies to fight in their proxy wars.
Capture or neutralize identified terrorists plotting or engaging in violence against US citizens. Require an after-action report to a select Congressional committee.
Defend domestic soft targets via public vigilance. Report to the police if you see pipe bombs being manufactured in your rental apartment. Use your own 2nd Amendment self-defense rights to protect self, family, and property.
End open borders policy in the US and EU. ISIS is exporting terror to the West via infiltration by no-doc/low-doc aliens. Homeland security is not xenophobia.
Strengthen multi-national effort to protect refugees in place, providing food and shelter at safe zones in Syria or Turkey.
Mobilize NGO online and social media anti-terror campaigns promoting pluralism, tolerance and peace to counter ISIS. Engage a free-world hacktivist army to block, neutralize and repudiate ISIS marketing and recruiting.
Obey the Constitution. Endless, unauthorized war is a fundamental threat to liberty. Congressional authorization under Article I, Section 8 forces politicians to go on the record and to engage Americans in debate over strategy and how to win and exit. The cost in money and lives and health of our soldiers must be weighed in debate. Weakening or breaching our 4th Amendment civil liberties has proven ineffective and unnecessary. A government encryption backdoor would be promptly exploited by enemies and cyber-criminals.
Keep promises for our vets. Support the Veterans Accountability Act so that VA system employees may be fired for incompetence or corruption. Make it easy for veterans to use healthcare choice. Fund needed defense spending from cuts to pork, not by breaking healthcare and pay promises to our soldiers and vets.
Defense spending for national security, not to fatten politicians taking money from defense contractors. In keeping with the doctrine of peace through strength, America must continue to have the world's strongest and most technologically advanced military. But Congress is abusing our patriotism by stuffing defense budgets with billions in pork. Fiscal conservatives must oppose military waste and pork just as firmly as we oppose welfare state waste and pork. Our most expensive weapons program ever, the F-35 fighter bomber ($400 billion spent to date), is unable to reliably fly in desert conditions and, because of its heavy, single-engine design, was defeated in simulations by Chinese fighters, and failed in dogfight with the older F-16 it is supposed to replace. Congress continues to spend ($120 million this year) on the Abrams tank program that the Army has repeatedly stated it does not need. In today's version of the $600 toilet seat, DOD spent $150 million on private villas and $43 million on a single gas station in Afghanistan.
Audit the Pentagon. Congress has allowed the Defense Department budget to remain un-auditable since 1990. Before spending more money, fiscal conservatives should require a full DOD audit so that we know where the money we are already spending is going.
Control the national debt. The Pentagon names as a top national security risk America's growing national debt which weakens us economically and crowds out defense spending.

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