Issue Position: National Security

Issue Position

Embracing Our Allies, Isolating Our Enemies

This is a time of global unrest. We have seen the winding down of the war in Iraq and the ending of the war in Afghanistan; the anti-government uprisings and revolutions of the so-called Arab Spring; the ongoing civil war in Syria; the ever-present threat of a nuclear crisis in North Korea; the ambitions of Iran to become a nuclear state; and continued sporadic aggression from Russia.

America is the world's only remaining superpower, yet our unrivaled military might is tempered by a new awareness of its strategic limitations. There are hard lessons from Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, where our military involvement did not produce the long-term outcomes that we desired. Our path should be one of collaboration backed by the full might of the US military.

Fighting Terrorism

Nothing is more important to me than keeping Americans safe. This means working to stop terrorism in all its forms. After the terror attacks in Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino, Jakarta and Ankara, we are more aware than ever of our vulnerabilities. Many of these attacks are tied to ISIL, whose defeat must be viewed as our top national security priority.

In order to defeat ISIS, we must continue to fight against them while working to end the Syrian civil war. To end that conflict will require the active participation of all of the nations that have a stake in a peaceful Middle East. States with influence over Syrian president Bashar al Assad need to convince him that he does not have a future as Syria's leader, and the international community needs to better coordinate its efforts to make sure that it is not working at cross purposes and is concentrating all efforts on swiftly ending the civil war so all focus can be turned to ISIS.

I wrote a letter with 54 of my Congressional colleagues calling on President Obama to push for this kind of international collaboration to end the civil war and defeat ISIS, and I introduced a bill in the House expressing the same. I believe this is the best way to achieve our goals, make our country safer, and prevent another disastrous and costly war for the United States.

Our Partnership With Israel

Israel is the strongest friend in the region and a critical ally to the United States, and its security needs are critically important. As chaos in the region has increased, so has peril for Israel, seemingly at every border. I have visited the region many times, and I remain hopeful that lasting peace can be achieved among Israel and its neighbors through continued engagement and dialogue. While these negotiations have at times been halting, I remain convinced that peace is attainable, and am fully convinced of the need to support Israel's qualitative military advantage to ensure stability.

Iran

In 2015, I supported the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. By restricting the types of materials and facilities to which the Iranians have access in exchange for lightening of sanctions, this agreement will make it much less likely that Iran will be able develop a nuclear weapon. After careful consideration of all the options, I believe that this plan represents the best chance to protect the United States and our closest allies, including Israel, from the terror of a nuclear-armed Iran. So far, Iran has been in full compliance of the nuclear agreement. It has given up its fissable materials, filled the Arak reactor with cement, disabled its centerfuges and is now subject to obtrusive inspections, both over and covert.

Iran is still a dangerous regime. We will continue to enforce our sanctions and hold them accountable for any and all violations of international agreements.

This is an example of the immense power of diplomatic collaboration. Success, as preliminarily demonstrated by Iran's willingness to negotiate in the face of crippling international sanctions, will often come from working in concert with our allies toward a shared goal. Our long-standing alliances with Europe and Asia are the backbone of global prosperity.

Staying True to Our Values

If American exceptionalism means anything, it means that we stand for unique aspirational values. We must be guided by these values in all that we do or we lose an intangible source of strength and we dim the light that we offer the world. When the world sees us engaged in torture or detaining prisoners without charge, we lose the moral high ground. When we coddle dictators or support those who oppress their own people, the world loses hope.

I support targeting effective international aid as an essential way for the United States to promote peace and security around the world. The small amount that we invest in aid brings food to hungry children and hope where there is none. It's not only the right thing to do; it's in our security interest to help.

Intelligence

In my capacity as a member of the Intelligence Committee, I undertake oversight of the intelligence community and play a critical role in protecting our national security. I will continue to support the efforts of our intelligence community at home and abroad, especially as we balance protecting our nation's civil liberties with protection from continued global threats.

Major Steps Forward

I have been a strong supporter of efforts to strengthen our security apparatus and make it more responsive to the changing threats we face as a nation. In 2015, I helped craft and advance the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, a bill that would allow greater cooperation and information sharing between the government and private companies -- the lack of which has been a major hurdle in security efforts in the past. A version of the bill was included in the year end budget, a major accomplishment and step toward improving homeland security.

The Need for International Norms

As the ranking member of the NSA and Cybersecurity Subcommittee, I have come to believe that one way we could make our country safer is by pushing for international standards that would govern cyberwarfare and lay a groundwork that would hold nations accountable for their actions.

Nonproliferation agreements were negotiated to curtail the exponential growth of nuclear weaponry during the second half of the 20th Century. Now is the time again for the international community to seriously respond with a binding set of international rules for cyberwarfare: an "E-Neva Convention." These rules will provide guidance to all nations, whether party to the agreements or not, as to what the international community considers acts of war and the appropriate responses.

Protecting Privacy

Intelligence gathering, important as it is, must also protect the privacy of American citizens. In several instances, the government has overreached in its efforts to collect information or data and infringed on the liberties that are core to our Constitutional freedoms. We saw with the conflict between the FBI and Apple over access to the San Bernardino shooter's phone that this is not always a clear cut issue, but we cannot let the difficulty of the task prevent us from trying to achieve the dual goals of security and privacy.

To that end, I helped develop and support the USA Freedom Act, which became law in 2015 and curtailed the overly aggressive data collection and surveillance programs authorized in the PATRIOT Act in the emotional wake of 9/11. I have also supported improvements to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) Oversight Improvement Act to require the intelligence agencies to provide regular, detailed reporting to the civil liberties oversight group. In 2016, I was proud to vote for the Email Privacy Act, which will require a warrant for law enforcement to search through emails on storage servers.

Source