It is imperative that we  maintain America’s standing in the world, not bow and kow-tow to tyrants and dictators.

President Obama, aided by  Van Hollen, have embarked on a road to catastrophe by systematically dismantling the greatest military the free world has ever built. Meanwhile, our enemies and potential enemies are growing stronger.

Thanks to their efforts, Communist China last year flew its first 5th-generation combat aircraft - the J-20 Stealth fighter, modelled on our own F-22 - and will be spending more on defense than we will by 2020, according to the Pentagon’s own estimates.

Chris Van Hollen’s failure as a member of the Super-Committee to find bi-partisan solutions for our fiscal train wreck will lead to across-the-board defense cuts of 24% under sequestration. He put partisan politics before our national interest, and this is a disgrace.

In Montgomery County alone, we could lose $1.7 billion in defense contracts because of the failure of leadership Van Hollen has shown.

John Bolton, John Lehman, former CIA Director Jim Woolsey, Maj. Gen. Chuck Swannack and other top national security practitioners have endorsed me for a reason: they know I will stand firm behind our military to ensure that they remain the best-trained, best equipped, and best-supported fighting force the world has ever seen.

 They need to have intelligence support from a community that is not riddled with politically-correct bosses and analysts who skew their findings to fit a political outcome. We saw how this led us to underestimate the military advances of the Soviet Union, and later, to fail to pick up the signs of the Communist collapse. We saw how this led us to huge errors of judgment in Iraq, and how it is leading us today to fail to defeat a nuclear Iran. (Read my book on the ravages of politicized intelligence, Shadow Warriors)

Chris Van Hollen’s failure as a member of the Super-Committee to find responsible debt reduction has triggered $1 trillion in “sequestration” cuts in our defense spending. These are automatic, across-the-board cuts that are not subject to review by the SecDef or the service chiefs.

Even Leon Panetta – a liberal Democrat, last time I checked – said these cuts will “hollow out” the force. He pointed out that we can’t build “3/4 of a submarine,” as the 24% cuts will require.

To right our current course, I believe we must:

-       build national missiles defenses and ensure that our Aegis class cruisers and destroyers remain operational to protect the homeland and our allies from missile attacks

-       Protect our national power grid against the threat of an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) attack or a massive solar flare. Even the head of Maryland’s Emergency management agency recognizes this threat and our lack of preparedness. (For more, see this follow-on column I wrote last October)

-       Structure our forces to the threats we face, not to arbitrary budget constraints established by a president who has no concern for our security. It is frankly dangerous to cut back our active duty military buy 100,000 troops, as the administration is proposing.

-       Keep the promise to our returning soldiers by making sure they get the care and opportunities they deserve back home.

-       Stop beating up on Israel. President Obama has gotten touch with Israel over Jews building new apartments in their capital, Jerusalem, while he whistles past Iran’s mullahs building nuclear weapons.

-       Stop negotiating surrender in Afghanistan. It is wrong to have our soldiers in Afghanistan fighting on the front lines against the Taliban while our political leaders negotiate to hand the country over to the Taliban. We know what Taliban rule in Afghanistan looks like – and it led directly to the September 11 attacks. We must defeat the Taliban, and this is something our military leaders know how to do.

-       Let the military handle terrorist trials. Foreign terrorists should be incarcerated and tried in military courts. Civilian courts must be reserved for Americans who have committed crimes under our Criminal Code, not for terrorists who have violated the rules of war.

-       Develop our national energy resources and break our addiction to foreign oil. How much of our foreign aid and military budget goes to defending Saudi Arabia, an Islamist regime whose ideology helped spawn al-Qaeda? We must get the EPA and other government regulators off the backs of our energy explorers here at home so we can become truly energy independent.

Fighting Illegal Immigration

Security starts right here at home. If you send me as your representative to the U.S. Congress, I will vote to secure our borders immediately and to enforce our immigration laws.

We must put an end to the sanctuary cities my opponent has supported.

 We need to support people like Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, who gets criticzed for enforcing the immigration laws that are on the books.

We must repeal the DREAM Act, which is really just a pathway to amnesty for illegals.  Parents who came to this country illegally are responsible for their children. Period. 

And we must improve and support E-VERIFY, which Congressional hearings have shown is an effective tool that is 99% accurate and will help put Americans back to work and help small businesses.

To secure our democracy against widespread voter fraud, we must enact REAL ID (see my Voter Integrity page for more details)