Kamala Harris on Homeland Security

	Kamala Harris on Homeland Security Democratic candidate for President (withdrawn); California Senator

Target Russian finances to oppose Ukraine invasion

Vice President Kamala Harris told the Munich Security Conference that the Western alliance faced a "defining moment" in the Ukraine crisis and warned Russia's leaders that if they invaded Ukraine, the US and its allies would target not only financial institutions and technology exports to Russia, but also "those who are complicit and those who aid and direct this unprovoked invasion."

"This playbook is all too familiar to us all," she said of the events unfolding near Ukraine's borders. "Russia will plead ignorance and innocence. It will create false pretexts for invasion, and it will amass troop and firepower in plain sight."

Ms. Harris argued in her speech that the crisis had driven NATO allies together. "As President Biden has said, our forces will not be deployed to fight inside Ukraine," she said, touching on--but not exploring--the decision to leave the fighting to Ukraine's own military. "But they will defend every inch of NATO territory."

Source: New York Times on 2024 Presidential Hopefuls , Feb 19, 2022

Slash the defense budget

Kamala Harris on Defense Spending: Slash the defense budget.

SIX CANDIDATES HAVE SIMILAR VIEWS: Tulsi Gabbard; Kirsten Gillibrand; Bernard Sanders; Eric Swalwell; Elizabeth Warren; Andrew Yang.

A sizable number of Democratic presidential candidates are doves with long track records of advocating deep cuts in the Pentagon budget in order to pay for what they consider more important domestic programs or diplomatic initiatives.

Source: Politico "2020Dems on the Issues" , Jul 17, 2019

Domestic terrorism as national security priority

Harris pledged to double the size of the civil rights division of the Justice Department: "Justice means recognizing domestic terrorism, including white nationalist extremism," which Harris said "should be considered a national security priority." Source: CNBC: 2019 National Action Network & 2020 Democratic primary , Apr 5, 2019

Champion a robust VA for our Veterans

With more than two million Veterans, California has more Veterans than any other state, and we owe them the support and care they earned while wearing our nation's military uniform. Over the years, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been plagued by scandal and budget crises, resulting in disgraceful levels of service and irresponsible delays in providing medical care and disability benefits.

As Attorney General, Kamala formed a working group to fight scams and other predatory conduct uniquely targeting service members, and secured enhanced protections for active-duty and Veteran homeowners during the foreclosure crisis.

In the Senate, Kamala will champion a robust VA for our Veterans. She will fight to ensure that when Veterans leave military service, they have the support they need to readjust to civilian life, including proper physical and mental health care. It's unconscionable that 22 Veterans take their own lives each day.

Source: 2016 California Senate campaign website, KamalaHarris.org , Aug 31, 2016

Exempt Veterans Affairs from federal hiring freeze.

Harris signed exempting Veterans Affairs from federal hiring freeze

Excerpts from Letter from 53 Senators to President Trump We are deeply troubled that your freeze on the hiring of federal civilian employees will have a negative and disproportionate impact on our nation`s veterans. As such, we urge you to take stock of this hiring freeze`s effect on our nation`s veterans and exempt the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from your Hiring Freeze.

Have you considered how this hiring freeze will affect VA`s ability to provide veterans with access to health care?
How it will affect VA`s ability to decide on appeals for disability compensation?
How it will impact those veterans who apply to federal jobs?

We urge you to classify VA`s delivery of health care as a national security and public safety responsibility, and exempt it from this hiring freeze. To do otherwise is to jeopardize the national security and public safety of our nation.

Opposing argument: (Heritage Foundation, `Eliminate Redundant Government Hiring,` May 9, 2017): It`s not hard to find federal programs that are duplicative or ineffective. The president`s executive order requires all agency heads to submit plans for reorganizing their operations. Their proposals are to `include recommendations to eliminate unnecessary agencies and programs.` That all sounds great, but what does it actually mean?

Well, for starters, it means the previous federal hiring freeze is no more. But it doesn`t mean programs and departments are free to hire willy-nilly. Instead, they`ve been instructed to follow a smart-hiring plan, consistent with the President`s America First Budget Blueprint.

A few agencies, like the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs, will beef up staff. Most, however, will have to pare down employment. All federal employees can expect to see resources shift to higher-priority ones. Many may be asked to do something new or different with the goal of optimizing employees` skills and time.

Source: Letter on DVA 17LTR-DVA on Jan 26, 2017