CLEVELAND, Ohio — National security experts spoke with Breitbart News Senior Legal Editor Ken Klukowski as he guest-hosted the nationally syndicated show Washington Watch on Monday, discussing national security in the Trump administration/
The discussion covered military operations, intelligence gathering, and foreign diplomacy, highlighting the theme of the first day of the Republican National Convention: “Make America Safe Again.”
Klukowski spoke first with Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (ret.), whom Breitbart News has previously profiled as the former commanding general of Delta Force, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, and the Special Warfare Center.
Boykin criticized President Barack Obama’s relationship with the U.S. military, telling Klukowski:
I think that our current president is suspicious of the military, is very uncomfortable around the military. I think that he has no confidence in the generals in the military … He has purged some of the senior leaders who are obligated to him and who are willing to follow his agenda. I find his priorities for our military to be abysmal.
Boykin contrasted Obama’s priorities with Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s standing in the mess hall at West Point to tell the cadets that as officers their unchanging mission was simple: to fight and win the nation’s wars.
To restore the military’s “warrior ethos,” as Boykin called it, he supports bringing several admirals and generals out of retirement. “I believe that may require bringing back some of the proven warriors who have gone into retirement or whom Barack Obama has eliminated. I think you need to bring them back in for some time … to active duty,” Boykin explained.
Boykin also made a public recommendation to Donald Trump, advising him that he should make Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn (ret.) the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) who took Obama to task for not recognizing the danger posed by Islamic terrorism.
Boykin said that when he was one of the top intelligence officials in the Pentagon he worked regularly with Flynn, finding him extremely impressive. “He should appoint him as Director of National Intelligence to replace Jim Clapper. He’s the brightest intel officer in the country today.”
As an aside, Boykin also said that there was a way to trim the Pentagon of bureaucrats who are not pulling their weight: “Walk down the halls at 3:30 on Monday afternoon. Anyone who’s not at their desk, fire them! We don’t need them.”
Next, Klukowski spoke with Ken Blackwell, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
Sharply criticizing the stance of Obama and Hillary Clinton toward Iran, Blackwell reflected on a summit in Paris he attended last week along with other foreign policy leaders like Speaker Newt Gingrich, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Ambassador John Bolton, and General James Conway.
Blackwell described as global the scope of support for regime change in Tehran, saying, “The fact is that the diaspora of resistance to the reign of terror of the present regime in Iran is seated in an organized and multinational movement.” According to Blackwell, these individuals are not only pressing for reform within Iran, “but [also] within Islam itself.”
Finally, Klukowski spoke with Len Munsil, an attorney who is also the former GOP nominee for Arizona governor and currently the president of Arizona Christian University, as well as a Republican delegate at the convention who was elected to serve on the Platform Committee.
Regarding the GOP’s position — which will be officially adopted by the full Republican Convention Monday — Munsil quoted the platform’s declaration: “Weakness invites aggression.”
That’s precisely what America has had with Obama as president and Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, he said. “This platform states very plainly that the Republican Party stands for the principle of peace through strength, and that the United States should have the strongest military in the world,” Munsil explained.
They then discussed the language of the platform, which includes:
We believe that our nation is most secure when the president and the administration prioritize readiness, recruitment, and retention, rather than using the military to advance a social or political agendas. Military readiness must not be sacrificed on the altar of politically correct social agendas, which this administration has done.
All of Klukowski’s guests emphasized the stark contrast that the Republican Party would present to the American people from the security priorities embraced by Clinton and the Democrats, many of whom refuse even to use the term “Islamic terrorism.”
Listen to the full interview here:
https://soundcloud.com/breitbart/washington-watch-ken-klukowski-july-15-2016