Secure Freedom Minute

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

As 2018 ends, Americans are preoccupied with the porousness of our southern border and what, if anything, is going to be done to end it.  Given that debate’s huge stakes, it may seem hard to believe that an even bigger problem in 2019 may arise from making one of the world’s most secure borders much less so.

One clue is North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s call for more peace talks with the radical leftist president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in. After all, their meetings to date have prompted Moon recklessly to dismantle fences, guard posts and mine fields in the peninsula’s Demilitarized Zone and take other measures that could tempt Kim to revert to his family business of dangerous aggression.

President Trump’s effort to denuclearize North Korea is being undermined by our so-called South Korean ally.  This must stop in 2019.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

What should we call a government that is enabling tens of thousands of Americans to be killed every year by a toxic drug it allows to be exported here called fentanyl?

What about one that has engaged in unrestricted economic warfare against us for more than twenty years and that annually steals half-a-trillion dollars worth of U.S. proprietary information and advanced technologies, including sensitive military ones?

How should we describe a country that is cornering strategic markets, undermining the dollar, taking over vital choke points around the world, amassing deadly weapon systems designed to attack us, relentlessly waging cyberwar and engaging in unprecedented levels of espionage against Americans?

What should we call a foreign leadership that explicitly says it intends to displace our country as the planet’s dominant power?

They call themselves Communist China. We should call them the enemy.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Turkey’s President, Recep Erdogan, is a Sharia-supremacist and U.S. ally in name only.  He aspires to be the next Caliph or ruler in a new Ottoman empire.  Toward that end, he intends to invade Syria with the goal of killing as many as possible of this country’s actual allies there, namely the Kurds.

It’s not in America’s interest to abandon Kurdish forces who have taken the fight to our mutual enemies – including the Islamic State jihadists that Erdogan has long protected, trained and armed in Turkey.

If U.S. special forces must leave Syria, weapons that could help the Kurds defend themselves should be left behind for that purpose.  And Erdogan should be put on notice that American airpower based elsewhere in the region will be on-call to stymie his ambitions, most immediately by deterring his assault against the Syrian Kurds.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Proponents of open borders in Washington often profess that they favor increased border security, just not the sort of physical barriers Donald Trump has famously branded as “the Wall.”  They claim, “walls don’t work.”

Really? Ask the Israelis, who have essentially ended the threat of domestic terrorism by building an effective, multilayer separation fence that keeps out jihadist Palestinians.  Or ask former President Barack Obama who, as Rep. Louie Gohmert recently pointed out, has just built a 10-foot wall around his new mansion. 

The fact is that properly constructed walls, located where appropriate, augmented by surveillance technology and backed by competent personnel, do work.  They turn easy and inviting targets into very hard ones for attackers, drug and human traffickers and others we can’t afford to have come here.

Thank you, President Trump, for insisting America must have “the Wall,” too.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

As Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense, retired Marine General James Mattis has had something akin to King Midas’ fabled golden touch.  Lawmakers, the press and others in the national security elite seemingly embraced his every decision, statement and policy stance – especially those not-infrequently at odds with the Commander-in-Chief’s direction.

Understandably, Mr. Trump chafed at being repeatedly countermanded by his subordinate. Evidently, the Secretary’s highly acclaimed resignation letter emphasizing their serious disagreements made intolerable the prospect of having him remain in place for another two months.

Today’s global challenges demand that we have a steady hand at the Pentagon’s helm. Fortunately, we have one in Deputy Secretary Patrick Shanahan, a man who may not have “the Mattis touch,” but certainly has the experience, judgment and leadership ability to serve effectively as the acting Secretary of Defense.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Donald Trump’s got his mojo back. After the administration sounded wobbly about the President’s insistence on funding for “the Wall,” he joined forces with the House Freedom Caucus yesterday to get it.

The effect was electrifying.  The rest of the House Republican Conference fell into line, approving $5.7 billion for the construction of a physical barrier along the southern border. And Republican senators are challenging Democratic colleagues who have previously experimented with shutting down the government in support of illegal migrants and found it was a loser politically. That seems likely to be the case again if the President stands his ground.

Mr. Trump’s reaffirmed, robust stance has made all the difference.  So has his explicit declaration for the first time in his presidency that he would use his veto to block an unacceptable bill – and preserve our sovereignty.

Let’s roll!

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Like a lot of us, Donald Trump is reportedly strongly influenced by the last person with whom he spoke.  That’s particular risky if it’s someone like Senator Rand Paul or Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the topic is withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria.

After all, Sen. Paul is an isolationist who likely recommended during a recent round of golf that the President declare victory against ISIS and abandon Syria. And President Erdogan is those jihadists’ ally, not ours.  He probably warned Mr. Trump recently to pull out ahead of his country’s imminent invasion of northern Syria.

The Commander-in-Chief needs to listen to his national security team, instead.  Twenty-two hundred U.S. special forces in Syria help thwart the ambitions there of those hostile to America and Israel like ISIS, Turkey, Iran, Russia and the Syrian government.  They should continue doing so.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Last night, the U.S. Senate placed a massive bet on a long shot, voting overwhelming that increasing the number of convicted felons at large in America will make the nation safer.

The bipartisan “First Step Act” authorizes early release and reduced sentences for convicts, including some who perpetrated violent crimes and/or engaged in inherently violent activity like trafficking lethal drugs.  With Senators voting 87-12 in favor of this bill, it is virtually certain to be swiftly rubber-stamped by the House of Representatives, as well.

I pray it will all work out as promised by the criminal justice reformers. Unfortunately, there is plenty of reason already to believe that this bet won’t pay off for law and order and for the society it preserves.  Worse yet, the politicians who are placing it are not just playing with our money.  They’re betting our lives.     

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

Today, a grievous wrong must be corrected. 

Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan is scheduled to impose a sentence on former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn for lying to the FBI.  He has acknowledged doing so, but the more ominous misconduct was perpetrated by the FBI itself, evidently for the purpose of entrapping this decorated combat veteran.

For example, FBI officials led General Flynn to believe that he was not the subject of an investigation.  They then asked to interview him without going through proper White House channels and absent any counsel. They failed to read the general his rights and even concluded he hadn’t intentionally lied, but charged that anyway.

In light of such malfeasance, Judge Sullivan should dismiss the charges against General Flynn and instead hold accountable those in the FBI responsible for destroying the reputation and life of a Great American  warrior.

This is Frank Gaffney.

This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

This week, the U.S. Senate will decide whether to give early release to large numbers of felons, including some convicted of violent crimes.

Surely, the “world’s greatest deliberative body” would reject such a dangerous idea. But senators won’t do much deliberating on this so-called “First Step Act” in the limited time available to debate this legislation during the present, lame-duck session.  

The good news is that Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and John Kennedy of Louisiana have three amendments that would markedly improve this deeply flawed bill.  One would exclude child molesters and other violent criminals from early release. A second would track the effectiveness of programs designed to dissuade released felons from returning to lives of crime. And the third would notify victims before offenders are allowed out of jail early.

Memo to senators: The Cotton-Kennedy amendments are sensible – and necessary.

This is Frank Gaffney.