Secure Freedom Minute

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

In a matter of minutes, Saudi Arabia lost half of its oil processing capacity to an attack by Iran. The devastation thus caused, and its repercussions for that nation and world energy markets, should put to rest once and for all illusions that something comparable – or far worse – can’t happen here.

That possibility prompted President Trump last March to issue an executive order requiring federal agencies to assess and fix the vulnerabilities of our electric grid to catastrophic take-down by foreign adversaries like Iran or naturally occurring phenomena. Unfortunately, Deep State bureaucrats are impeding implementation of the President’s order, thus perpetuating our immense peril.   

One such bureaucrat is the Homeland Security Department’s Scott Backhaus, who justifies slow-rolling the President by suggesting that the risk of electromagnetic pulses taking down the electric grid are “overestimated.” 

Want to bet? Think Saudi Arabia.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Weekend attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure by Iran have exposed – and exploited – long-known vulnerabilities that can no longer be ignored.

Obviously, the Saudis’ above-ground pipelines must be made more resilient. Its critical refining and shipment assets must be protected against drones and ballistic missiles. And Iran must be deterred from undertaking further strikes. 

Fortunately, a proven product called Velocifoam could enable pipelines to be buried and hardened quickly, cheaply and effectively. A predictive Hypersonic Intercept Technology algorithm could swiftly make anti-drone and Patriot missile defenses far more capable against present and emerging threats.

And stealthy, targeted special forces operations against Iran’s energy infrastructure can briefly degrade exports on which its regime desperately depends – and give those like China that persist in buying them a powerful incentive to prevail on Tehran to stop its aggression.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

The Soviet Union’s murderous Communist dictator, Vladimir Lenin, has long been credited with contemptuously quipping that, “The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”

An alarming program sponsored in Washington yesterday by our Committee on the Present Danger: China revealed that, today, we’re not just selling the Chinese Communists the proverbial rope; we are actually buying it for them.

That’s the practical effect of Wall Street’s investment vehicles that are increasingly pouring billions of dollars in U.S. pension and other funds into PRC companies that threaten our national security and/or other vital interests. 

Worse yet, unless action is swiftly taken, the taxpayer-subsidized retirement savings of past and present government employees and those of veterans and serving military personnel may soon be similarly compromised. 

This must not happen on our watch. 

This is Frank Gaffney. Find out more at PresentDangerChina.org.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

“Larger than life” perfectly described T. Boone Pickens, the wildly successful energy entrepreneur whose time on this earth, alas, came to an end at ninety-one yesterday. 

I had the privilege of being befriended by Boone in recent years. Many hours of conversation with him indelibly imparted an inspiring sense of his legendary can-do spirit, his profound patriotism, his free-range mind and his wry – and not infrequently irascible – sense of humor. 

Boone Pickens gave back generously to the nation and institutions he loved.  He tirelessly supported politicians like Ronald Reagan, who shared his love for America, and decisively opposed like John Kerry, who did not. 

Perhaps Boone will be most remembered for the outsized contribution he made to U.S. energy security, helping transform our dangerous dependency on often unreliable suppliers to a posture of net exporter to the world.  

Godspeed, T. Boone Pickens. 

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

John Bolton has left the building. The White House, that is.  With one of the President’s trademark severance Tweets, a man who is arguably the finest national security practitioner of his generation completed his service in the latest of ever-more-senior governmental posts.  

Frankly, Amb. Bolton lasted longer in the role of National Security Advisor to the President than might have been expected. And I believe that he did more for the country than any of his predecessors since Judge William P. Clark stepped down as Ronald Reagan’s “top hand.”

The very good news is that Amb. Bolton will presumably now return to another, and perhaps even more important, role he has long played with great skill and impact – namely, that of an authoritative surrogate in the public arena and champion for the President he served with such distinction. 

Let’s roll, John Bolton.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Yesterday, President Trump further clarified his policy toward Afghanistan. He announced that negotiations with the Taliban jihadists are “dead.” And, while there will be further reductions of U.S. forces there, they will not be dictated by our Sharia-supremacist enemies. 

The President deserves great credit for this critical course-correction.  The temptation to do otherwise is, as he would say, yuuuuge. He is committed to keeping campaign promises to end the nation’s longest war; diplomats yearn for Nobel Peace Prizes; budgeteers seek spending cuts; and supporters of the military want to end its seemingly futile sacrifices.

Now, Mr. Trump has the chance to re-boot U.S. policy to as to achieve significant reductions in the U.S. presence in Afghanistan – without surrendering the place and its long-suffering people to the Taliban and other Jihadists. Our “Secure Afghanistan” Strategy shows how; review it at Secure Freedom.org. 

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

On Saturday evening, President Trump revealed that Taliban jihadists would not be coming to a summit with him at Camp David since they continue to attack and kill American and allied personnel. If these Sharia-supremacists won’t stop their jihadism – even while we’re negotiating an accord to draw down our forces in Afghanistan – it’s extremely unlikely that they’ll behave better once we have done that.

The President is wise to have suspended further talks with these inveterate enemies.

Moreover, this turn of events affords Mr. Trump the  opportunity to reconsider his options. Three distinguished colleagues and I have just recommended to him a “Secure Afghanistan” alternative that can enable the Afghan government and people to defeat the Taliban, ISIS and al Qaeda with our continued help – but at a vastly reduced cost and dramatically smaller U.S. footprint in-country.  

Examine our open letter at SecureFreedom.org.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

There are over 5.5 million present and former federal government employees and military personnel who invest their pension funds in a retirement system known as the Thrift Savings Plan. Incredibly, the people who manage this TSP’s half-a-trillion dollars have decided to start investing a significant portion of those sums in Chinese companies that help their country’s Communist Party enslave its own people and threaten ours.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned in a powerful op.ed. article published this week that this “decision would provide the Chinese Communist

Party with capital investment to further its nefarious aims –  many of which are harmful to the United States, China’s neighbors and basic human rights. It also would put at risk the retirement funds of our civil servants and brave men and women in uniform. This decision must be reversed immediately.” 

Amen, Mr. Speaker. 

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Hard leftists seem to think that they can with complete impunity demean, revile and delegitimize law enforcement personnel. For such radicals, the ends justify the means. Their relentless assault on those charged with maintaining public safety is just one technique being used to achieve the larger goal of replacing our constitutional republic with a socialist or even communist one.

Fortunately, such an agenda doesn’t enjoy much support from Americans. Yet, its pursuit in this fashion will predictably have near-term consequences. 

Specifically, relentless attacks on the conduct or even the lawful duties of local police, Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers inevitably ravage their morale and, over time, may erode their willingness to serve. 

So-called “sanctuary cities,” “criminal justice reform” and “catch-and-release” policies undermine the rule of law. We need to have the backs of those responsible for enforcing it.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Foreign ministers of two Persian Gulf nations have publicly expressed support for recent, defensive attacks Israel launched in Lebanon in response to threats emanating from Iran’s proxy terrorist group there, Hezbollah.

This is the latest manifestation of momentous tectonic shifts that have been taking place throughout the Mideast. They have been prompted by the rising – and increasingly existential – threat posed by Iran to many Arab states, as well as Israel and us. As a result, Israelis long reviled by virtually all Muslim nations now have powerful allies in a number of them.

Meanwhile, two ostensible U.S. “allies” – Sharia-supremacist Turkey and Qatar – are aiding and abetting Iran. So is France, which has just offered Iran’s mullahs a $15 billion credit lifeline.

President Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran must be applied as well to its new-found friends – who surely are not ours. 

This is Frank Gaffney.