On March 4, Maury Thompson at the Glens Falls Post Star reported that Congresswoman Gillibrand wanted a discussion regarding the Protect American Act – a bi-partisan bill designed to provide intelligence vital to protecting American lives from terror plots. At the time, I questioned her motives in a statement on this blog.
As a former commander of a Delta Force special operations squadron who has fought in combat in places like Iraq and in the Balkans, I like to think I know a little something about intelligence gathering and the role timely intelligence plays in ensuring American lives are protected. I’ve seen timely intelligence lead to the success of a mission and a lack of intelligence lead to the needless loss of American lives.
In Maury’s follow-up story, Mrs. Gillibrand admitted that a lack of knowledge of intelligence gathering methods prevented her from voting in favor of the Protect America Act, yet less than two weeks later she found herself expert enough to vote against our national security yet again with no public debate on the issue. I wonder what discussions she had and what intelligence experts she met with that convinced her she was thoroughly briefed on the issue.
With her vote, Mrs. Gillibrand has chosen not to do what is right and best for our country but what is right and best for one of the largest groups of political donors to the Democrat party. Let me put it another way. With her vote, Mrs. Gillibrand and her party leaders are trading national security for campaign contributions.
I look forward to the opportunity to debate Mrs. Gillibrand on national security in the general election and to remind her that the role of a junior congresswoman is to protect the interests of her country and her constituency, not the donors and party bosses who clearly pull her political strings.
