State of Minnesota Archives: on Homeland Security
Jason Lewis:
Maintain military strength to eradicate threat of terrorism
Q: Is the best way to maintain peace through a strong military?A: Strongly Agree.
Q: What should the United States do to help eradicate the threat of radical Islamic terrorism?
A: The key to eradicating the threat of radical Islamic terrorism is maintaining military strength.
Source: AFA iVoterGuide on 2020 Minnesota Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
Steve Carlson:
We must build up our defense industries
We must build up our defense and rebuild our defense industries, including increased domestic steel production and iron mining from Minnesota. We must reform NATO and include Russia in G-8. We must eliminate nuclear weapons from the
Korean peninsula by diplomacy or military actions. We must defend our border and build the Wall in order to stop massive illegal immigration and create security and community all along the Mexican border.
Source: KROC Rochester's News Talk on 2020 Minnesota Senate race
Jan 1, 2020
Steve Carlson:
Build up defense and rebuild defense industries
We must build up our defense and rebuild our defense industries, including increased
domestic steel production and iron mining from Minnesota.
Source: KROC 1340-AM/96.9 FM on 2018 Minnesota Senate race
Jul 5, 2019
Tina Smith:
Preserved funding for state-owned National Guard facilities
Senator Smith's bipartisan effort to fund military readiness and environmental conservation was signed into law.
The Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program helps military facilities manage surrounding land to ensure community development does not impede military training.
The Army considered reinterpreting the statute that defines a military installation to remove state-owned facilities, meaning that state-owned National Guard facilities would have been unable to receive REPI funding.
Sen. Smith introduced a provision to ensure these facilities continue to receive this support as part of a larger bipartisan defense bill.
Source: Senate press release on 2020 Minnesota Senate campaign
Aug 16, 2018
Paula Overby:
Shift military spending to social and economic development
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Expand the military"? A: Strongly oppose--We need to shift our military spending to social and economic development. The expanding conflict with China exemplifies that challenge. They are investing in
economic strength while we are spending all of our resources on war. I don't see a military confrontation with China having any beneficial resolution.
Source: OnTheIssues interview of 2018 Minnesota Senate candidate
May 13, 2018
Jim Newberger:
Expand the military
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Expand the military"?
A: Support.
Source: OnTheIssues interview of 2018 Minnesota Senate candidate
Mar 15, 2018
Jim Newberger:
Part of what makes our nation great is our military
Part of what make our nation great is our military. My father served in World War Two and I will forever be proud of that fact.
America can only be great if America is strong. I support our military and our veterans. Keeping our military fully funded is foundational to making America great again!
Source: 2018 Minnesota Senate campaign website JimForUSSenate.com
Feb 22, 2018
Karin Housley:
Put veteran programs in place for active and retired
My dad was a veteran, so that one is really big. And especially working with Rep. Urdahl and Sen. Bruce Anderson at the state level was really a big help for me sitting on the veterans committee.
I want to make sure those veterans programs are there so when those who are serving in the military come back, they'll still be able to get benefits from them."
Source: Hutchinson Leader on 2017-8 Minnesota special election
Feb 18, 2018
Lori Swanson:
Joined other AG's in fight to keep transgendered troops
Minnesota AG Lori Swanson is asking Congress to block President Donald Trump's tweeted ban on transgender troops serving in the military. Nineteen state attorneys general wrote the House and Senate Armed Services committees this week asking them to
write protections for transgender troops into the 2018 Defense Department budget that Congress is hammering out. "The new policy is also blatant discrimination," the attorneys general wrote. "It has no place in our Armed Services.
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune on 2018 Minnesota Governor race
Jul 29, 2017
Tim Walz:
Enlisted in Army National Guard at 17; served for 24 years
Tim's parents, Jim and Darlene, instilled in him the values that continue to guide his commitment to the common good and selfless service. Summers of farming with his family reinforced these lessons.Tim's dedication to public service began soon after
his graduation from Butte (Nebraska) High School with his 24 classmates. At the age of 17, Tim enlisted in the Army National Guard. Tim's leadership was recognized: in 1989, he was name Nebraska Citizen-Soldier of the Year.
"I loved growing up in a
small town in rural Nebraska. Small-town life and working on family farms each summer taught me fundamental lessons about the importance of family and the value of hard work. I had wonderful public school teachers, great neighbors, and loving parents."
Upon his 1990 return from teaching in China, Tim served full time in the Army National Guard [for the next 24 years]. He joined his battalion overseas in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Source: 2018 Minnesota governor campaign website WalzForGovernor.org
May 2, 2017
Tim Walz:
Suicide prevention programs & mental health for veterans
Tim's bill to help reduce the number of veteran suicides passed unanimously and was signed by President Obama. The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act helps make current VA suicide prevention programs more effective by creating
incentives to attract more psychiatrists to the VA, creating a central website to better connect veterans with VA mental health services, and improving connections & coordination between the VA & non-profit mental health organizations providing services.
Source: 2018 Minnesota governor campaign website WalzForGovernor.org
May 2, 2017
Jason Lewis:
We need reform at the Pentagon to ensure its solvency
We've seen what misguided policy can do to our military men and women abroad during the Obama and Clinton administration. First in Egypt and Libya, and now Syria, where policies have put more of our men and women at risk without a clear exit strategy,
or a path to victory--especially in regard to the rules of engagement in these foreign interventions. I will not support sending more of our sons and daughters into harms way abroad without a clear path to victory and an exit strategy.
That's my first commitment to veterans.Veterans should also have private sector medical options so that no soldier ever falls through the cracks. We also need reform at the Pentagon to ensure its solvency,
so it can always adequately support our troops on the battlefield. Procurement, civilian employment and pension programs should all be improved for the average GI.
Source: 2016 Minnesota House campaign website JasonLewis2016.com
Nov 8, 2016
Al Franken:
Worked since 2009 on fighting ISIS recruitment in Minn
Mike McFadden, the Republican, has accused Democratic incumbent Sen. Al Franken of failing to stop Minnesota from becoming a recruiting ground for extremists, [including] the Islamic State, Somalia-based Al Shabab and other Islamist organizations aimed
at Minnesota immigrant young people.Franken counters that he's been on top of the issue for years: "In 2009, we knew that Shabab in Somalia was beginning to recruit from our communities. The first days I was in office I went to the FBI and got
a briefing," he said during a debate last week "I have worked with law enforcement. I pressed the secretary of Homeland Security. I pressed the director of the FBI in [Senate Judiciary Committee] hearings on this recruitment."
It is estimated that
anywhere between 20 and 40 Minnesotans recruited from the state's sizable Somalian emigre population have left the U.S. and joined the Al Shabab terror network since 2008, and another 10 or 12 have joined ISIS.
Source: Washington Times on 2014 Minnesota Senate debate
Oct 8, 2014
Mike McFadden:
Combat propaganda & recruiting by the Islamic State
Congressional candidates across the country are debating how to stop the Islamic State abroad, but Minnesota's Senate race has the candidates trading shots over how to stop terrorist recruitment much closer to home, after dozens
of young Minnesota men are believed to have gone to train overseas as jihadist warriors.Mike McFadden, the Republican, has accused Democratic incumbent Sen. Al Franken of failing to stop Minnesota from becoming a recruiting ground for
extremists, and this week he released his own plan to combat propaganda and recruiting campaigns by the Islamic State, Somalia-based Al Shabab and other Islamist organizations aimed at Minnesota immigrant young people.
Franken, who is finishing
his first term, counters that he's been on top of the issue for years. McFadden argues that Franken--and the Obama administration as a whole--have not done enough to stop the trend.
Source: Washington Times on 2014 Minnesota Senate debate
Oct 8, 2014
Mike McFadden:
We need a national strategy against ISIS, and don't have one
Franken and McFadden agreed on combating the increasingly powerful Syrian group known as Islamic State through targeted airstrikes and arming and training of moderate Syrian rebels. Though McFadden lauded Franken's decision to vote with Obama on
airstrikes, he chastised him for a lack of foreign policy strategy, and faulted him for not doing enough about terrorist recruitment at home in Minnesota. McFadden called Franken's efforts "a day late and a dollar short."Franken countered that he
pressed the FBI and US Justice Department to focus more resources to crack down on terrorist recruitment. Franken said McFadden last year ducked a question on what action to take after Syrian President Bashar Assad was believed to have used chemical
weapons on his own people. "He refused to answer because it was a tough call," Franken said. "It is easy to score political points from the bleachers. This is a serious job. You've got to make real choices in real time."
Source: Star-Tribune on 2014 Minnesota Senate debate
Oct 2, 2014
Jim Abeler:
Our friends don't trust us; our enemies don't fear us
Question topic: The United States must maintain a nuclear arsenal that is safe, reliable, modern and numerically superior to those of potential adversaries.Abeler: Strongly Agree
Question topic: Briefly list political or legislative issues of most concern to you.
Abeler: Foreign policy: our friends don't trust us and our enemies don't fear us. This places our security in peril.
Source: Faith2Action iVoterGuide on 2014 Minnesota Senate race
Jul 2, 2014
Al Franken:
Let companies reveal how much data NSA has gathered
Franken said Americans are still in the dark about the clandestine monitoring of their phone calls, e-mails and Internet search data. The US government has not revealed how much information has been actively reviewed by government officials, and not
merely collected for databases.Documents leaked by now infamous contract employee Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA has been collecting the phone & web records of millions of Americans using secret court orders. "Americans still have no way of
knowing whether the government is striking the right balance between privacy & security--or whether their privacy is being violated," Franken said. "There needs to be more transparency."
Google offered support for Franken's legislation, which would
lift gag orders on companies & allow them to report information about data requests they get from the government. [An opponent] said that disclosing the requests would give terrorists an advantage; they'd gravitate to companies that receive no requests.
Source: Star-Tribune on 2014 Minnesota Senate debate
Nov 14, 2013
Mark Dayton:
Redirect military spending to focus within US
Dayton suggested the U.S. should redirect military spending to more sharply focus on the United States. “I think we need a much stronger patrolling of our border by our armed forces,” he
said. “The greatest threat to our national security today is the flood of drugs coming into our country.”
Source: Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio on-line
Oct 2, 2000
Page last updated: Oct 13, 2021