Interviews during 2018-2020: on Homeland Security


Andrew Yang: I'd love to declassify Area 51, for government transparency

Andrew Yang said he would 'love' to declassify Area 51, because he is a 'huge fan' of government transparency. "So I have to see what the information is, but if it's something I could declassify, I would love to do that," Yang told CBS News. "I'm a huge fan of transparency and anything that isn't going to do the public harm, so if I become privy to any information about aliens or Area 51 or anything that I am able to share, I will share it."

Yang's statement comes in response to a viral Facebook event to "storm Area 51" and "see them aliens," with 1.7 million people marked "going" on Facebook, and another 1.3 million indicating interest on the Sept. 20 event.

The joke even reached the attention of the US Air Force, prompting a warning to the potential participants to stay away from the military base: "The Nevada Test and Training Range is an area where the Air Force tests and trains combat aircraft. Any attempt to illegally access military training areas is dangerous."

Source: Business Insider magazine on 2020 Democratic primary Jul 19, 2019

Pete Buttigieg: Suffered post-deployment depression, but not PTSD

Pete Buttigieg said that although he wasn't diagnosed with PTSD after returning from Afghanistan after a 7-month deployment in 2014, "there's a level of depression that I went through when I came back."

Why it matters: This is a new window into Buttigieg's unusual experience of serving as a 32-year-old, then returning to resume his job as mayor of South Bend, Indiana. "Of course, it's the effect of having been exposed to danger," Buttigieg said. "I think, also, some moral pressure." He continued, "Any time, in any way, you are even remotely involved in killing, it takes something out of you, and it takes a lot of work to process that." Buttigieg told me the feeling lasted about a year, and that he never felt he needed medical treatment.

Buttigieg, who was an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve, noted that "It's the displacement--the fact that you are trying to come back into a civilian world whose rules are just different than when you were deployed."

Source: Axios.com on 2020 Democratic primary Jun 16, 2019

Kamala Harris: 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

Pete Buttigieg: Be serious about security like Israel, but live freely

Buttigieg had praise for Israel, suggesting its way of handling security threats could be a good model for the US. Seeing the way that a country can be very very serious, and effective when it comes to security and on the other hand not allowing concerns about security to dominate your consciousness, I think that's a very important lesson that Americans can look to when we think about how to navigate a world that unfortunately has become smaller and more dangerous for all of us.
Source: Alex Ward of Vox.com on 2020 Democratic primary Apr 3, 2019

Joe Biden: Refugee policy is an embarrassment

[In Germany, Biden said] "The America I see values basic human decency, not snatching children from their parents or turning our back on refugees at our border. Americans know that's not right." The former vice president told the Munich Security Conference, "The American people understand plainly that this makes us an embarrassment. The American people know, overwhelmingly, that it is not right. That it is not who we are."
Source: Washington Examiner on 2020 Democratic primary hopefuls Feb 16, 2019

Julian Castro: Supported military expansion into cybersecurity

By 2011 the military's economic impact in the city was measured at $27.7 billion, larger than any other sector. After the US Cyber Command announced plans in 2009 to hire one thousand cyber experts, Castro co-signed a letter asking for them to be headquartered in the city. "San Antonio is producing the brainpower in the twenty-first century to defend our nation," he told a cybersecurity conference held by the St. Mary's University Center for Terrorism Law.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders Feb 15, 2019

  • The above quotations are from Interviews during 2018-2020, interviewing Democratic presidential hopefuls for 2020.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Homeland Security.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Joe Biden on Homeland Security.
  • Click here for more quotes by Cory Booker on Homeland Security.
2020 Presidential contenders on Homeland Security:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) 		Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to:
1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140
E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org
(We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Dec 01, 2021