In 1785, Robert Burns wrote To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, which contained these famous words: “The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry, and leave us nothing but grief and pain for promised joy!” Those words aptly describe the misplaced confidence in the Obama administration’s touted “reset” strategies on a number of fronts—and lay a challenge for new “resets” to replace them. Read Full Story
General Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s 2006 Army War College Thesis on Democracy in the Middle East is worth a read to help understand how events in Egypt may unfold. While the military’s support for the moderate faction of the Egyptian body politic that protested against Mohammed Morsi’s rule is a welcome sign, his thesis includes some troublesome statements that raise questions about the future. Read Full Story
When Benjamin Franklin exited the 1787 Constitutional Convention, he was asked what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer: “A republic, if you can keep it.” This is still our challenge today, since many seem uninformed of critical differences between a republic and a democratic government, which historically has eventually failed the nations that adopted it—as we just witnessed in Egypt. To preserve our way of life, we must return to the views of our founders, and shore up all three legs of Ronald Reagan’s stool—economic conservatives, social issue conservatives and foreign policy/defense conservatives. All three legs need help, especially our defenses because existential threats are more eminent than most realize. Read Full Story
Earlier this week as part of the EMP Coalition, I carried the High Frontier flag to The National Council of State Legislators (NCSL) Legislative Summit in Atlanta. Legislators from all over the country were in attendance. We were there especially to call attention to the initiative by Andrea Boland (D-Maine) to begin hardening the electric power grid in Maine. She led numerous panel discussions of the existential EMP threat from natural and man-made causes, and how other representatives can follow Maine’s lead as the first state in the nation to take matters into its own hands, given the failure of federal leaders “to provide for the common defense,” per the oath they swore to Constitution. The prospects look promising! Read Full Story
As is clear from a recent video, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is proud of shepherding a major expansion of Iran’s uranium enrichment programs, a decade ago while leading Iran’s negotiations with the West—consistent with the continuing objectives and policies of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These policies call for destroying the “little Satan” Israel and the “great Satan” America. His implied approach, which many describe as “moderate,” actually promises more of the same under Khamenei, as Iran approaches—possibly within months—a uranium and/or plutonium nuclear capability. While a softer diplomatic approach from than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s bombastic pronouncements, Western leaders should expect no different bottom lines as time runs out on preventing a nuclear armed Iran. Read Full Story
In these “dog days of summer” and with congress out of town, intelligence warnings have provoked an unprecedented closure of our embassies and consulates, associated overseas travel alerts, and presumably preparations to deal with jihadi attacks at home and abroad. These sobering events suggest it is time to reconsider our policies for dealing with jihadi terrorists and protecting the American People at home and abroad against failures of past policies—especially in view of the dysfunctional features of the Federal Government that prevent the common defense called for by the Constitution. Read Full Story
Last Monday, President Bill Clinton’s Director of Central Intelligence, R. James Woolsey; Dr. Peter Pry, who leads the Task Force on National and Homeland Security; and I joined in a discussion of the existential threat of a natural or nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP). The event, sponsored by the newly established EMP Coalition—of which Mr. Woolsey is the Honorary Co-Chair along with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich—is summarized here, by clicking below. A YouTube video of the 2-hour conference is included. Read Full Story
George Orwell, in a classic novel we read in what now seems was a very different land, wrote about how “doublethink” and other devices could confuse and mislead the citizenry, while unsavory powers gain and retain power. We find current examples of how we are being misled, whether ignorantly or by design, into not recognizing threats to our freedoms and our very existence. These methods can become menacing—even to High Frontier—as they are being powered by more and more intrusive applications of modern technology. We must guard our liberty in such times as this—including in identifying existential threats and defending against them. Read Full Story
The recently formed EMP Coalition presentations at the National Press Club provided an overview of the existential electromagnetic pulse threat posed by natural and man-made causes and what must be done to counter both threats—with an emphasis on the importance of the Shield Act now being considered in the House for the third congress. Hopefully, it will pass during this third try, as advocated by the bipartisan EMP Caucus and as supported by seven out of ten Americans, according to a recent poll. Read Full Story
Winston Churchill overcame many difficulties—even failures—to speak truth to power in the 1930s, warning about the growing existential threat to Great Britain—indeed all of Western Civilization; and when that truth became sufficiently apparent, to lead the British from apathy to victory in a great world war. His “V for Victory” pose, illustrated above, rallied the people long before victory was sure. A review of some of that history could help us assess our efforts to awaken the powers that be to today’s electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threat and how to counter it—hopefully in time. Read Full Story
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.