New Democrat Update - April 2004
A WINNING STRATEGY FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
The following commentary is by Terry Johnson, a Colorado native who served on former U.S. Senator Gary Hart's staff and is now a consultant on Homeland Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection in Washington D.C. Mr. Johnson also maintains a home in Colorado Springs.
The tragedy of 9/11 and continued threat of terrorism have elevated national security concerns in this year's presidential elections. Richard Clarke, Bush's former terrorism "czar," has challenged the president's leadership, both before and after 9/11. Recent polling indicates that the nation is divided on Bush’s stewardship of the Global War on Terrorism.
At the same time, Democrats will not be able to merely ride doubts about Bush's leadership to the White House. We must prove that we will do a better job of protecting America - that Democrats have a vision for winning the War on Terrorism, while preserving America's essential freedoms and economic vitality.
In the 1960 Presidential race, President John F. Kennedy cited the "Missile Gap" to establish his credentials on national security with the American electorate. Similarly, the defining national security issue for Democrats in the 2004 elections should be the increasing danger posed by nuclear proliferation - the "Nuke Gap." We learned, painfully, on 9/11 that terrorists have devastating combinations of weapons and tactics at their disposal. The radical Islamists make their mission clear - kill as many Americans as possible.
Their dream - and our worst nightmare - is a nuclear detonation within America's borders. Painful as it was, America proved its resilience in the aftermath of 9/11. We pray that we will never be attacked again - but most terrorist experts believe we will.
While we must guard against all forms of attack, an unbearable scenario is a nuclear detonation in one or more of our cities. The potential for sudden and massive loss of life and unprecedented damage to our economy is almost unimaginable. The political imperative for retaliation would certainly ignite World War IV - a "Clash of Civilizations" with the Islamic world, with devastation on an unprecedented scale.
This is the ultimate goal of the radical Islamists. We must not allow it to happen. It should, then, be clear - the first objective in the Democrat's Order of Battle for the Global War on Terrorism must be to break the potential linkage between radical Islam and nuclear proliferation - at all costs.
Unfortunately, this danger has not decreased since 9/11. Published reports indicate that as many as 60 nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union are unaccounted for. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's right-hand man, has claimed that al Qaeda already possesses a suitcase-size nuclear bomb.
An al Qaeda cell need not have much imagination to wreak unimaginable harm on America. The blueprint for an American Armageddon is available at your local video store - Tom Clancy’s "Sum of All Fears" depicts a plot to explode a nuclear bomb hidden in a cargo shipping container in Baltimore Harbor.
While significant progress has been made in developing new technologies and procedures to interdict nuclear weapons before they can reach America's shores, we are still vulnerable. For example, almost three years after 9/11, less than three percent of containerized shipping entering the country is currently inspected. About 770,000 containers enter the Port of New York alone each year. And there can be no denying that our borders are still porous. The stark reality is that America is not yet secure - no, far from it.
In 2002, defending the new "Doctrine of Preemption," the President's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said, "We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
Unfortunately, the administration's actions have not matched its dire rhetoric. Nuclear proliferators (such as Pakistan) have not been confronted and nuclear development programs continue in two of the three states that comprise Bush's “Axis of Evil”: Iran and North Korea. Missiles - nuclear delivery systems - continue as one of North Korea’s few exports.
Democrats must define a new strategy in the Global War on Terrorism, with nuclear proliferation on one pole, and the progenitors of radical Islam on the other. This war must be fought on both fronts.
Other critical pillars in a Democratic national security strategy include American Energy Independence – we should make clear that continued dependence on uncertain Middle East allies is dangerous and unpatriotic. Especially, we must distance ourselves from Saudi Arabia, which has succored radical Islam. (It is worth remembering that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 came from the Desert Kingdom.)
Democrats have exposed Bush's Homeland Security Department as a hollow shell - disorganized and leaderless, lacking adequate resources and without the clout required to force key agencies to work together. Our party will devote the resources and attention required to protect America.
Democrats must also lead in developing a new war-fighting strategy for the Global War on Terrorism. The Bush Team does not appreciate that al Qaeda is a metastasized cancer, spread to more than 60 countries and engaged in asymmetric warfare to neutralize our conventional military advantages. So far, the Bush Administration has focused predominantly on "state sponsors" of terrorism that can be brought into line by conventional military means. Beyond simply critiquing intelligence failures, Democrats should also realign and devote significant resources to enhancing our intelligence capabilities, and integrating these capabilities seamlessly with flexible military special operations and law enforcement units, to achieve the surgical precision required to find and eradicate al Qaeda-affiliated cells throughout the world.
We should lead an international effort to foster human rights and economic opportunities throughout the Islamic world, attacking the root causes of radical Islam. Unlike the Bush Administration, we will have to take risks to find peace in the very difficult Israeli-Palestinian dispute. There will be no safety for America until there is also peace in this dangerous corner of the world. Former President Clinton almost got us there. The next (Democratic) President must take us the last mile to peace.
But nuclear proliferation remains the greatest danger - and the keystone of a coherent Democratic national security strategy. Democrats should make George Bush's failure to reverse the tide of nuclear proliferation the defining issue of our national security platform - the "wedge" that undercuts Republican claims that America is "more secure" under his leadership. Their claim is simply not true - and it should not stand.
We must make clear that a Democratic president would restore America's credibility in the world, and lead a coordinated international effort to counter the clear and present danger of nuclear proliferation - the greatest threat we face. Americans will feel more secure knowing that Democrats are fighting the right war - the war to ensure that there is never a "Nuclear 9/11."
COME TO THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION!
Join Colorado's elected officials at the eighth annual Democratic Leadership Council's 2004 National Conversation on May 6-8, 2004 in Phoenix, Arizona. This year, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is serving as the 2004 National Conversation honorary chair, and U.S. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Bob Menendez (N.J.) is serving as the recruitment chair. The DLC helps all elected officials with travel expenses.
Hundreds of well-known and up-and-coming New Democrat leaders will be at the DLC's most important annual event. The Conversation is a one-of-a-kind forum for governors and other statewide elected officials, legislators, mayors, county executives, council members, school board members, business leaders, and citizen activists to come together on a national platform to compare notes and brainstorm innovative strategies for governing in their states and communities.
Since its inception in 1997, the DLC National Conversation has attracted an increasing number of participants. Last year's event was attended by over 300 elected officials representing 43 states and by hundreds of business and civic leaders. Nearly 50 different Colorado elected officials have attended past Conversations.
Add your voice and help build an agenda rooted in progressive ideas, mainstream values, and new approaches to governing. For more information, contact Jim Gibson at 303-860-7183 or toll-free outside the Denver Metro area, 1-877-COLODLC (1-877-265-6352).