“Those who do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it.” Variously attributed to George Santayana, Edmund Burke, Winston Churchill, . . . Whoever, inevitably true! Read Full Story
Author Archives: Henry F. Cooper
August 23, 2016—Soldier Down . . . General Vessey, Rest in Peace.
Not quite seventeen, this “soldier’s soldier” volunteered to become a Minnesota National Guardsman and received an Anzio battlefield commission in World War II and the Army’s second highest medal for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross, in Viet Nam. He led the U.S. and U.N. Forces in Korea and opposed withdrawing U.S. Forces which cost him the Army Chief of Staff post under President Jimmie Carter—an implicit rebuke cast aside when President Ronald Reagan appointed him as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and after his retirement and return to Minnesota into other important posts. President George H.W. Bush awarded Gen. Vessey the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. A life of service with unquestionable integrity. Read Full Story
August 16, 2016—Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink . . .
“Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink . . . ” From the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by the 19th Century English Poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s in his lengthy 1798 poem, studied in my youth by all who took courses in English Literature. Read Full Story
August 9, 2016—The Iran Nuclear Deal Still Stinks!
“Like the leaders of other fascist states, the [Iranian] mullahs who have ruled the Islamic Republic have claimed universal authority in the name of their doctrine, not of their country. And they are prepared to die — along with their followers — to accomplish their mission. As Khomeini put it shortly after the occupation of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979: ‘We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah . . . For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say, let this land burn. I say, let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world.’” ~ Retired Army Lt. General Michael Flynn and Dr. Michael Ledeen, The Field of Fight, St. Martin’s Press, 2016, p. 79-80. Read Full Story
August 2, 2016—Demand Cost-Effective Defenses and Stay the Course This Time!
“There is no upper bound to the cost of a program the sponsor doesn’t want to do and doesn’t know how to do.” ~ Dr. William R Graham, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Ronald Reagan Read Full Story
July 26, 2016—Debunk the EMP Naysayer—You Bet Your Life!
“The President, the Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the States, the utilities and the private sector should work together on an urgent basis to enact Republican legislation, pending in both chambers, to protect the national grid and encourage states to take the initiative to protect their own grids expeditiously.” ~ Republican Party Platform—July 18, 2016 Read Full Story
July 19, 2016—Those Nagging EMP Threats!
“A single nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude over this country would collapse our electrical grid and other critical infrastructure and endanger the lives of millions. With North Korea in possession of nuclear missiles and Iran close to having them, an EMP is no longer a theoretical concern — it is a real threat. Moreover, China and Russia include sabotage as part of their warfare planning. Nonetheless, hundreds of electrical utility in the U.S. have not acted to protect themselves from EMP and they cannot be expected to do so voluntarily since homeland security is a government responsibility. The President, the Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the States, the utilities and the private sector should work together on an urgent basis to enact Republican legislation, pending in both chambers, to protect the national grid and encourage states to take the initiative to protect their own grids expeditiously.” ~ Republican Party Platform—July 18, 2016 Read Full Story
July 12, 2016—Micro Grids and Nuclear Power Solutions . . .
“An electromagnetic (EM) attack (nuclear electromagnetic pulse [EMP] or non-nuclear EMP [e.g., high-power microwave, HPM]) has the potential to degrade or shut down portions of the electric power grid important to the DoD…. Restoring the commercial grid from the still functioning regions may not be possible or could take weeks or months.” Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Press Release, June 24, 2016
July 5, 2016—A Republic if you can keep it . . .
“Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.” ~ Ronald Reagan, July 4, 1981 Read Full Story
June 28, 2016—EMP: A Right Wing Conspiracy? Not!!!
“Journalists and commentators mainly on the political right, prompted partly by a government report in March, have been seeking to keep public attention on the possibility of a society-devastating electromagnetic pulse, or EMP. They focus mainly on a nuclear bomb as the cause.” ~ Steven T Corneliussen, Physics Today, 23 June 2016 Read Full Story
Key Policy Briefs
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.