Reuters: on Homeland Security


Alejandro Mayorkas: One of the greatest threats we face is domestic terrorism

On QAnon invasion of the Capitol: "To see the insurrection, to see the horrific acts of Jan. 6 were not only personally devastating, but ... that created in me a commitment to redouble our efforts to fight hate and to fight one of the greatest threats that we face currently on our homeland, which is the threat of domestic terrorism," Mayorkas told CNN.
Source: Reuters on Biden Administration Press Release from dhs.gov Feb 6, 2021

Donald Trump: Ensure U.S. nuclear arsenal is at the top of the pack

Pres. Trump said he wants to ensure the US nuclear arsenal is at the "top of the pack," saying the US has fallen behind in its weapons capacity. In his first comments about the US nuclear arsenal since taking office, Trump was asked about a December tweet in which he said the US must greatly expand its nuclear capacity "until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes."

Trump said, "I am the first one that would like to see nobody have nukes, but we're never going to fall behind any country, even if it's a friendly country. It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we're going to be at the top of the pack."

Russia has 7,000 warheads and the United States, 6,800. The New START treaty between the US and Russia requires that by February 5, 2018, both countries limit their arsenals of strategic nuclear weapons to 800 ICBMs for 10 years. Trump called New START "a one-sided deal."

Source: Reuters on 2017 Trump Administration promises & actio Feb 14, 2017

Linda Lingle: Don't let up on its defense spending, like pre-WWII

Lingle pressed Hirono on her vote that helped set up the so-called "fiscal cliff" scenario set to take effect in January if Congress can't reach a compromise on spending cuts and tax hikes. Lingle said Hirono shouldn't have supported cuts of $50 billion per year to the military as part of the deal, because the cuts would have crushing effects in Hawaii given the large military presence here. "We can't do a pivot if we're cutting $50 billion" per year in defense, Lingle said.

Hirono said Congress was right to raise the debt ceiling and needs to reach sensible compromise to avoid the deep cuts planned.

Lingle compared today's times with the period between WWI and WWII to say the US shouldn't let up on its defense spending or become more isolated.

Hirono retorted that nobody's talking about weakening national defense, but Tea Party Republicans have said the US should worry more about itself than other countries.

Source: Reuters on 2012 Hawaii Senate debate Oct 20, 2012

Marco Rubio: Increased military investment demonstrates leadership

Rubio has spent much of 2014 promoting himself as a foreign policy expert through a series of speeches: "Too many leaders in both parties, including our president and some who aspire to be president, have shown they would rather wait for poll numbers to change than demonstrate the leadership necessary to shape them," Rubio said while advocating increased military investment.
Source: Reuters 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Sep 18, 2014

Mazie Hirono: Sensible compromise needed on $50 billion military cut

Lingle pressed Hirono on her vote that helped set up the so-called "fiscal cliff" scenario set to take effect in January if Congress can't reach a compromise on spending cuts and tax hikes. Lingle said Hirono shouldn't have supported cuts of $50 billion per year to the military as part of the deal, because the cuts would have crushing effects in Hawaii given the large military presence here. "We can't do a pivot if we're cutting $50 billion" per year in defense, Lingle said.

Hirono said Congress was right to raise the debt ceiling and needs to reach sensible compromise to avoid the deep cuts planned but said Republicans are holding things up because they're not willing to allow taxes to go up for the wealthiest Americans. "We now have a Congress where people are perfectly fine sending our country over the economic cliff," Hirono said. Hirono concluded that nobody's talking about weakening national defense, but the Tea Party has said the US should worry more about itself than other countries.

Source: Reuters on 2012 Hawaii Senate debate Oct 20, 2012

Ted Cruz: Americans who join ISIS should be barred from coming home

Cruz introduced a measure to block Americans who join Islamic State from returning to the country. The proposal failed, but while describing it, he criticized Obama's handling of the threat: "The administration's ISIS policy is also marked by internal confusion that further demonstrates a lack of focus on what should be our clear mission," he said.
Source: Reuters 2014 coverage of 2016 presidential hopefuls Sep 18, 2014

  • The above quotations are from Media coverage of political races in Reuters News Service.
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2024 Presidential contenders on Homeland Security:
  Candidates for President & Vice-President:
V.P.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.(I-CA)
Chase Oliver(L-GA)
Dr.Jill Stein(D-MA)
Former Pres.Donald Trump(R-FL)
Sen.J.D.Vance(R-OH)
Gov.Tim Walz(D-MN)
Dr.Cornel West(I-NJ)

2024 presidential primary contenders:
Pres.Joe_Biden(D-DE)
N.D.Gov.Doug Burgum(R)
N.J.Gov.Chris_Christie(R)
Fla.Gov.Ron_DeSantis(R)
S.C.Gov.Nikki_Haley(R)
Ark.Gov.Asa_Hutchinson(R)
Former V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
U.S.Rep.Dean_Phillips(D-MN)
Vivek_Ramaswamy(R-OH)
S.C.Sen.Tim_Scott(R)
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