“Lives depend on it,” said incoming Senate Majority Whip John Barasso.
He’s urging confirmation of President Trump’s national security team of Kash Patel for FBI Director, Tulsi Gabbard for DNI, and Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.
He wants Mike Waltz appointed as national security advisor.
Barasso wants serious people swiftly sworn into office on January 20—as we all should.
Because reality returned at 0315 on New Year’s Day.
Not fireworks and champagne, but a determined attack on American life by one man who plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street, then opened fire on cops and civilians. Pipe bombs were found a few blocks away, rigged for remote detonation.
The attack by Shamsud-Din Jabbar in New Orleans killed at least 14 people and injured dozens. Another image of death and terror seared into the Nation’s memory.
We may not have all the facts but we know this: Regular police officers took fire and killed the attacker.
Real people faced evil and stopped it, demonstrating courage under fire like countless local cops and agents in the field, like so many thousands of combat veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan. For people who wear the uniform, who train their mind and body to fight back when others flee, an entire life of preparation boils down to a few seconds.
Few of Biden’s senior-most national security officials could possibly understand. Consider their qualifications:
- Avril Haines, DNI, graduated Georgetown Law, rotated through various ministerial positions in the Obama Administration, managed a program at Columbia University, and advised private corporations.
- Jake Sullivan, NSA, graduated Yale Law, held various ministerial positions in the Obama Administration, taught at Yale Law School, advised Hillary Clinton during her run for the presidency, and advised private corporations.
- Christopher Wray, FBI Director, prosecuted cases early in his career, joined the Bush Administration, then left government to defend corporations at a prominent, white-shoe law firm.
These are Biden’s national security leaders.
Lawyers and policy wonks, standing safely bac