OnTheIssues Fact Checking: on Homeland Security


Barack Obama: We spend more on military than next 8 nations combined

President Obama said, "We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined." Is that literally true? We found the answer on Wikipedia, for the top 9 countries in military expenditures (in billions per year):
  1. $581B United States
  2. $129B China
  3. $81B Saudi Arabia
  4. $70B Russia
  5. $62B United Kingdom
  6. $53B France
  7. $48B Japan
  8. $45B India
  9. $44B Germany

The "next eight nations combined" add up to $532 billion annual military expenditures. Compare that to the U.S.'s annual total of $581 billion, and Pres. Obama is accurate. (Sen. Rand Paul said in 2015 the same statement about "the next ten countries combined," and we rated his statement "loosely accurate", but Obama could have gone up to "the next nine nations combined" adding in South Korea's $34B). Obama's point was the same as Paul's: the U.S. has by far the strongest military on earth, and we need not increase military spending to maintain our military dominance.

Source: 2016 State of the Union: OnTheIssues FactCheck Jan 13, 2016

Herman Cain: FactCheck: No, Israel leader never mentioned our way of life

Cain misleads readers into thinking that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports the concept that terrorists want to "destroy our way of life." Cain does so by juxtaposing his interpretation of Netanyahu's speech in the same paragraph as Cain' "way of life" assertion. Netanyahu actually said no such thing.

The closest Netanyahu comes is when stating, "Contrary to popular belief, the motivating force behind terror is neither desperation nor destitution. It is hope--the hope of terrorists tha their savagery will break the will of their enemies & help them achieve their objectives--political, religious, or otherwise." Netanyahu does not say, nor hint, that those objectives include "destroying our way of life."

Cain's analysis of Netanyahu's speech correctly concludes that Netanyahu seeks US resoluteness against terrorists, including fighting them abroad. But his juxtaposition with his own "destroy our way of life" conclusion falsely implies that Netanyahu agrees with that conclusion.

Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on H.Cain's "They Think You're Stupid" Jun 14, 2005

Hillary Clinton: FactCheck: No, ISIL doesn't cite Trump in recruitment videos

Hillary Clinton said, "We need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists." Is that true?

We checked, and it is not. ABC News reports that neither the White House nor National Security Council would back up Clinton's assertion.

According to Business Insider, "The Clinton campaign has since backpedaled slightly on its candidate's comments. A campaign spokesman pointed to a comment from an expert on ISIS propaganda that ISIS follows 'everything Donald Trump says' and points to Trump's proposed Muslim ban as proof that America hates Muslims. Clinton 'didn't have a particular video in mind' when she made the comment, said another campaign spokesman; Trump is being used by ISIS in social-media propaganda.

Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on 2015 ABC/WMUR Dem. debate in N.H. Dec 19, 2015

Hillary Clinton: FactCheck: 7 official reports on Benghazi over 3-year period

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said about Benghazi, "Many questions remain unanswered and I applaud the Select Committee's continued diligent efforts to find the truth." Have there been sufficient investigations to answer questions, or, as Democrats contend, is this issue being politicized? We found seven published reports: Whether questions "remain unanswered" is opinion; but the fact is, there has been plenty of OPPORTUNITY to "find the truth.
Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on Benghazi Jul 2, 2015

Hillary Clinton: FactCheck: Dozens of U.S. diplomats killed during Bush terms

Jeb Bush said that Benghazi was "the first deadly assault on a U.S. diplomat since 1979." Is that true? We checked and found that assertion to be entirely false. Following is the list of fatalities from such attacks just during the George W. Bush presidency, excluding many attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad:
Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on Benghazi Jul 2, 2015

Jeb Bush: FactCheck: No, Benghazi wasn't 1st deadly assault since 1979

Jeb Bush said that Benghazi was "the first deadly assault on a U.S. diplomat since 1979." Is that true? We checked and found that assertion to be entirely false. Following is the list of fatalities from such attacks just during the George W. Bush presidency, excluding many attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad:
Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on Benghazi Jul 2, 2015

Kevin McCarthy: Questions remain unanswered about Benghazi

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said about Benghazi, "Many questions remain unanswered and I applaud the Select Committee's continued diligent efforts to find the truth." Have there been sufficient investigations to answer questions, or, as Democrats contend, is this issue being politicized? We found seven published reports: Whether questions "remain unanswered" is opinion; but the fact is, there has been plenty of OPPORTUNITY to "find the truth.
Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on Benghazi Jul 2, 2015

Marco Rubio: FactCheck: Yes, Air Force is now smallest in its history

Sen. Marco Rubio asserted, "Today, we are on pace to have the smallest Army since the end of World War II, the smallest Navy in 100 years, the smallest Air Force in our history." It seemed to us that, with ever-improving technology since the Air Force was formed in 1947, that Rubio had to be mistaken, so we dug up old records from 1968 (the peak of Vietnam) and 1980 (when Reagan started building up "the hollow military") and compared to today:

Category19681980 2015
Personnel905,000 558,000307,000
Aircraft15,50010,1005,600
Budget (2015 $)$545B$393B$140B

We checked other years too: between WWII and Vietnam, the counts were much higher due to the Korean War. In summary, any way you measure it, Rubio is correct: the Air Force is the smallest now whether you count personnel, aircraft, or budget.

Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on 2016 Fox Republican debate in Iowa Jan 28, 2016

Rand Paul: FactCheck: Yes, military spending as much as next 10 nations

Senator Rand Paul said, "We need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined. I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt." Is that literally true? We found the answer on Wikipedia, for the top 11 countries in military expenditures (in billions per year):
  1. $581B United States
  2. $129B China
  3. $81B Saudi Arabia
  4. $70B Russia
  5. $62B United Kingdom
  6. $53B France
  7. $48B Japan
  8. $45B India
  9. $44B Germany
  10. $34B South Korea
  11. $32B Brazil

The "next ten countries combined" add up to $598 billion annual military expenditures. Compare that to the U.S.'s annual total of $581 billion, and Sen. Paul is pretty much correct. He spoke a bit loosely, saying "we spend MORE than the next ten countries combined," when he should have said "we spend A COMPARABLE AMOUNT to the next ten countries combined." But we rate his statement as ACCURATE.

Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on Fox Business/WSJ debate Nov 10, 2015

  • The above quotations are from Presidential Primary Fact Checking by OnTheIssues.org.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Homeland Security.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Herman Cain on Homeland Security.
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