Issue Position: Securing Rhode Island and the Nation

Issue Position

Issue Position: Securing Rhode Island and the Nation

Securing Rhode Island and the Nation
I take very seriously the responsibility of safeguarding Rhode Island and our country from the threat of terrorism and natural disasters. Unfortunately, many of the policies the Bush Administration pursued made America less rather than more secure.

I agree with President Obama that our most urgent focus needs to be on the home front. We must focus on freeing America from its dependence on foreign oil imported from nations that do not have our nation's interests at heart. We must secure our energy and transportation sectors from terrorist attacks and natural disasters. Resilient communities are safer communities, and we must work especially hard to ensure that our law enforcement officers, fire fighters, emergency medical personnel, the Rhode Island National Guard, and other first responders have the resources and training necessary to respond safely and effectively to emergencies. We must also ensure that our infrastructure, such as bridges and highways, are built to weather the consequences of global climate change as storms and other natural disasters become increasingly likely in the Ocean State and across our nation.

Nearly six years after the attacks of September 11th, the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress passed legislation, which is now law, implementing many of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. I voted for that legislation, which requires enhanced measures to safeguard our rail networks, airports, mass transit systems, and chemical and nuclear plants, and creates a new grant program to help local first responders communicate with other agencies during a disaster. This legislation improves the ability of U.S. law enforcement authorities to disrupt terrorist infiltration of our country. I also voted to pass appropriations legislation that increased overall homeland security funding by 8 percent, including an additional $1 billion in preparedness funding to help protect this country from future disasters, both natural and man-made.

Internationally, the United States must do more to employ our full range of capabilities to prevent terrorism from reaching our shores, including diplomatic engagement, economic influence, development efforts, and, only as a last resort, the use of military force. The Bush Administration's decision to engage militarily in Iraq, a nation the intelligence community agrees had no relationship with al Qaeda prior to the start of the war, was profoundly misguided, and distracted our military, diplomats, and public from genuine terrorist threats, such as those lurking in Afghanistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Measures to secure Afghanistan through development, diplomatic, and military efforts, in conjunction with our allies and partners in the region, are crucial to prevent future acts of terrorism against the U.S.

As we remain vigilant in uncertain times, we must also work to preserve basic privacy protections for Americans. I am working to update our nation's data security while, at the same time, protecting consumers' personal information and preventing identity theft.

As a member of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, I will continue working to ensure that efforts to secure and protect the United States have the funding and resources they need, and that when threats emerge, we are able to respond, always remembering that America's greatest strength in the world is the strength of our ideals.

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