by Norman Halls, contributor
Today, we are on edge, as many feel we are not secure because of the various scenarios that are talked about. There is an uneasy feeling in aboard about the campaign promises and the 180 degree turn the President has taken. As we all know Trump was not ready to be President. After winning the Republican candidacy, he should have started to assemble his administration for the Cabinet positions and Security Advisors. He lacked the knowledge of how to organize a team. He could have done one Wikipedia search to find out what former Presidents did!
“Although we often speak about the proper ‘balance’ between security and liberty, the two need not be in tension. Policies that make the nation more secure, particularly against foreign threats, do not necessarily undermine its people’s liberty. Protecting individual liberty does not invariably hobble the nation’s defense. Rather, as the Constitution recognizes, the two are reinforcing: we ‘secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.’ A threat to America’s security is also a threat to Americans’ liberties.” Paul Larkin, Senior Legal Research Fellow How must America Balance Security and Liberty
What would happen in the Trump administration if Trump had his finger on the button? Is there a competent person that would double check a missile alert? Presently, Trump does not have a security adviser. In minutes Trump would have to convene a conference with the military and civilian advisers in the Situation Room.
During the Carter administration, there was warning of a Soviet missile attack, Fortunately, Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzeninski, was alert. Brzeninski received a call in the middle of the night informing him of imminent nuclear destruction. The next call was an all-out attack. He was going to wake the President when he received the third call canceling the alarm. It was human and technical error. According to Bruce Blair Princeton University.
Susan Hennessey, a former NSA lawyer who is now with the Brookings Institution, says that since Trump was elected, she’s spoken with former colleagues who are still in the intelligence community who have been “stunned” to hear Trump’s repeated rejections of their findings. “It’s not outrage, although that might be under the surface,” she says of her former colleagues’ response. “its real uncertainty and a sense of fear…shock, bewilderment, wondering what’s going to happen next.”
Building on what may be the most troubling recent revelation of all, that Trump has declined the traditional daily intelligence briefing given to presidents. Instead, he receives the briefing only about once a week. “I get it when I need it,” he told Fox News Sunday. “You know, I’m, like, a smart person.”
“With President Trump’s White House mired in controversy and his party’s legislative agenda initially stalled as a result, congressional Republicans are discovering a new outlet for their creative energies as they head home for next week’s recess: avoiding their constituents. As many observers have noted, rank-and-file progressives have recently taken a page from the tea party’s playbook, (The Indivisible Team) and begun to disrupt in-person town-hall events with their representatives, booing like Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and prompting police to escort Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif.” Andrew Romano West Coast Correspondent February 18, 2017
It appears that representatives from Republicans and Democrats are getting involved with the Administrations problems. A House bill was established by a bipartisan commission to investigate allegations of Russian interference in last year’s presidential election which has garnered its first Republican supporter. Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.) co-sponsored the Protecting Our Democracy Act on Thursday. He joins every member of the House Democratic Caucus in co-sponsoring the bill, which would set up a 12-member panel evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. The bill, introduced by Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), gives the commission powers to investigate “any attempts or activities by the Russian government, persons or entities associated with the Russian government, or persons or entities within Russia to use electronic means to influence, interfere with, or sow distrust in elections for public office held in the United States in 2016.”
Will the Democrats work with the Republicans? The last 8 years were very tenuous and with obstructions. We know what one Republican Senator said about President Obama: “get no help from its lawmakers.” Times have changed; we have someone in the White House that doesn’t know how to govern. Some how, both the Democrats and the Republicans are going to assume the role as President. Trump time in office is 4 years. Let us have strength to curtail any dangerous problems.
