Securing America with Frank Gaffney Podcast

Brad Wenstrup, Henry Nau, Andy McCarthy, Gal Luft

Congressman BRAD WENSTRUP representing Ohio's 2nd district:

• Afghanistan's future, and the roles the US and the Taliban will play
• Observations about the morale and suicide rate amongst young military veterans
• The continuing hollowing out of the military and the possibility of more upcoming defense budget cuts

Dr. HENRY NAU, author of "Conservative Internationalism":

• How the elements of conservative internationalism could help stabilize Ukraine if implemented properly and quickly
• Evidence that Putin is taking advantage of America's weakness
• Argument for the establishment of small but permanent NATO bases around Russia

ANDY MCCARTHY, former federal prosecutor:

• President Obama's tendency to rewrite immigration and refugee laws
• The mass trial in Egypt that has resulted in hundreds of court ordered death sentences
• Secretary of State's John Kerry recent statement about a possible "Israeli apartheid"

GAL LUFT, co-director of the Institute for Analysis of Global security:

• America's energy posture and the opportunities that natural gas and coal present
• China's ability to warranty vehicles for methanol use, and the US's inability to do the same
• Proposed South Korea-North Korea natural gas pipeline controlled by Russia

Peter Huessy, Bruce Weinrod, Matt Continetti, Gordon Chang

PETER HUESSY, President of GeoStrategic Analysis:

• New report that outlines five disorders with the US nuclear enterprise under President Obama's leadership
• Disconnect between military branches and lack of post-Cold War nuclear roadmap
• Dangers of keeping up a nuclear force on the cheap, and where money can be found in federal budget to maintain the force
• Morale issues amongst the nuclear personnel

BRUCE WEINROD, Former Secretary of Defense Representative for Europe and the US Mission at NATO:

• The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine
• The NATO-US alliance
• NATO's limited military capabilities

MATT CONTINETTI, editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon:

• The oligarchical presence within the Washington D.C. political structure
• The left's blind spot regarding income inequality
• An anti-constitutional cultural movement within the U.S.
• Hilary Clinton's service as Secretary of State, and its impact on her likely presidential candidacy

GORDON CHANG, of Forbes.com:

• President Obama's latest trip to the Far East
• Does the U.S. pivot to Asia policy have any teeth to it?
• Communications giant Huawei's close relationship to Chinese state security services
• The resignation of the South Korean Prime Minister following the tragic ferry disaster

Amb. Yoram Ettinger, Mike Baker, Claire Berlinski, Joseph Connor

Ambassador YORAM ETTINGER, former Minister for Congressional Affairs at Israel's Embassy in Washington D.C.:

• Mahmoud Abass' connections with terrorism
  
• New unity agreement accord between Hamas Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian Liberation Organization
  
• The rise of Hamas as the leading influential representative Palestinian voice

Former CIA operations officer MIKE BAKER:

• The state of war in Yemen against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
  
• The recent drone strike campaign against Al-Qaeda members in Yemen
  
• Confusion over the War on Terror's operational objectives

CLAIRE BERLINSKI, contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute's City Journal magazine:

• Implications that the presence of Turkish troops in Syria may have on fellow NATO allies
  
• Power struggle within Turkey between Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's party, the AKP, and the Gulen movement

JOESPH CONNOR, advocate for victims of terrorist attacks and author of
"The New Founders":

• DoJ release of terrorists from prison under the guise of clemency for
  
• non-violent offenders
  
• The dangers associated with declaring mosques "surveillance free zones" in
  
• the United States
  
• President Obama's circumvention of the Constitution

REPOST: Sen. Ted Cruz, Claudia Rosett, Steven Bucci, Cliff Kincaid

Reposted due to technical problems with original post.

Senator TED CRUZ of Texas:

• Importance of Republicans and Democrats coming together in the House and Senate to unanimously approve a bill banning terrorists from entering the United States as diplomats
• President Obama's signing statement declaring the anti-terrorist bill to be "advisory legislation"
• Obama's history of ignoring laws as it suits him—immigration, welfare, Obamacare, etc. laws

CLAUDIA ROSETT, journalist in residence at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies:

• Banning terrorists from gaining and holding UN ambassadorial positions
• The likelihood of Ukrainian dissolution and complete integration into Russia
• North Korea's progression as a credible nuclear threat to the US and its allies in the region

STEVEN BUCCI, of the Heritage Foundation:

• The possible impact of President Obama's upcoming trip to Asia on US allies there
• America's lost ability to properly pivot among world regional problems, a result of the hollowing out of the military
• The Obama Administration's treatment of Israel, America's most important ally in the Middle East

CLIFF KINCAID, President of America's Survival Inc. and Director at the Accuracy in Media Center for Investigative Journalism:

• Unprecedented decision to award the Pulitzer Prize for espionage-focused journalism stories
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel's controversial past
• Al-Jazeera's penetration of American media and its association with domestically based Muslim Brotherhood front organizations

Charles Faddis

CHARLES FADDIS, Former CIA Intelligence Operative and author of "Willfull Neglect: The Dangerous Illusion of Homeland Security":

Part 1:

• The premise and principles of the book "Willfull Neglect"
• Is the war on terror isolated to core Al-Qaeda?
• Why the war on terror will eventually span to cover numerous decades into a multi-generational battle

Part 2:

• The unwillingness and inability to understand and think like our enemies
• The political posturing in the U.S. that allowed Putin to annex Crimea from Ukraine 
• The foreign policy of wishful thinking that is pervasive throughout Washington D.C.

Part 3:

• The threat Iran and North Korea pose to the United States 
• The political decisions leading to gross security gaps

Part 4:

• The vulnerabilities of the electric grid in the US
• What the future in America would look like without electricity if an EMP attack or solar phenomenon were able to take out the electric grid
• His suggestions on how to best protect American infrastructure from our adversaries and future terror attacks

Sebastian Gorka, Diana West, James

SEBASTIAN GORKA, Assistant Professor at the National Defense University:

• Russia covertly increasing tensions in Ukraine
• Vice President Biden's trip to Ukraine
• Dispatching American troops to countries near Russia to prevent Putin from further westward expansion
• Angela Merkel's past

DIANA WEST, author of "American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation's Character":

• The EU's attempt to collectivize Europe in a fashion lambasted as mirroring the model implemented by the Soviet Union
• Details on how certain EU members have begun to seek out ways to regain their state-sovereignty
• American Muslim Brotherhood affiliated groups, notably CAIR, pushing to regard mosques as "surveillance free zones"

Admiral JAMES "ACE" LYONS (US Navy, Ret.), former Commander of the Pacific Fleet:

• Yesterday's Citizens' Commission on Benghazi event, highlighting the finding that Muammar al-Gaddafi had reached out to the United States regarding his surrender and exile from Libya
• The subsequent missteps by the Obama administration and notably the Department of State leading up to, during, and after the attack in Benghazi

JIM HANSON, of Blackfive.net:

• Questions the rationale behind the troop withdrawal in Afghanistan and debates the reasons to keep a military presence in the country
• Articulates how the United States won the war in Iraq but eventually lost the peace, and fears U.S. policy will soon lead to the same sequence of events in Afghanistan

Ted Cruz, Claudia Rosett, Steve Bucci, Cliff Kincaid

Senator TED CRUZ of Texas:

• Importance of Republicans and Democrats coming together in the House and Senate to unanimously approve a bill banning terrorists from entering the United States as diplomats
  

• President Obama's signing statement declaring the anti-terrorist bill to be "advisory legislation"

• Obama's history of ignoring laws as it suits him—immigration, welfare, Obamacare, etc. laws

CLAUDIA ROSETT, journalist in residence at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies:

• Banning terrorists from gaining and holding UN ambassadorial positions

• The likelihood of Ukrainian dissolution and complete integration into Russia

• North Korea's progression as a credible nuclear threat to the US and its allies in the region

STEVEN BUCCI, of the Heritage Foundation:

• The possible impact of President Obama's upcoming trip to Asia on US allies there

• America's lost ability to properly pivot among world regional problems, a result of the hollowing out of the military

• The Obama Administration's treatment of Israel, America's most important ally in the Middle East

CLIFF KINCAID, President of America's Survival Inc. and Director at the Accuracy in Media Center for Investigative Journalism:

• Unprecedented decision to award the Pulitzer Prize for espionage-focused journalism stories

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel's controversial past 

• Al-Jazeera's penetration of American media and its association with domestically based Muslim Brotherhood front organizations 

John Bolton, Charlotte Florance, Adam Kredo, Gordon Chang

Former US Ambassador to the UN JOHN BOLTON:

• The crumbling state of Ukraine and the lack of response from the US government

• U.S. inability to handle multiple international problems at once due to the ongoing hollowing out of the military—a world power should not need to pivot

• The American stance in the Middle East and towards Iran

CHARLOTTE FLORANCE, Research Associate for Economic Freedom in Africa and the Middle East at The Heritage Foundation:

• Key takeaways from the recent reelection of Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and the domestic challenges he will face during his next term. Is this ill, mostly-absent man being used by the Algerian military to maintain domestic stability?

• Understanding the political and ideological transition underway between Islamists and secular groups within Algeria.

• Algeria's role on the global market as a key natural gas surrogate to Russia

• The ongoing violent rift between Muslims and Christians in Central African Republic (CAR), and concern from neighboring states of a possible spill-over of violence

ADAM KREDO of the Washington Free Beacon:

• More delays in the Guantanamo Bay pre-trials of some of the 9/11 perpetrators. Amidst claims that the FBI asked a defense attorney to act as an informant, relatives fear the federal government is purposefully trying to cause a mistrial and force a move to civilian court.

• Questions over Iran's compliance with deal to scale back its nuclear weapons program

GORDON CHANG of forbes.com:

• President Obama's upcoming visit to Asia and the importance of this trip in maintaining US allies in the region

• A growing nationalistic outlook in China to make up for lagging economic growth, and the resulting changes in the political system that are leading it to resemble the old Mao regime

Herman Pirchner, Katherine Zimmerman, Qanta Ahmed, Bill Gertz

HERMAN PIRCHNER, founding President of the American Foreign Policy Council

• Putin claims the right to use force in "New Russia," even as a deal to remove occupying forces from Eastern Ukraine is being brokered
• Echoes of World War II—Putin purportedly protecting ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine
• How long would ordinary Ukrainian and Russian troops be willing to fight each other?

KATHERINE ZIMMERMAN, senior analyst at AEI and Al Qaeda Team Lead at AEI's Critical Threats Project:

• The significance of the video posted by Al Qaeda depicting a large public gathering of Al Qaeda leaders and fighters in Yemen
• Did American intelligence know about the gathering? Why were there no drone strikes?
• Al Qaeda is spreading, despite President Obama's rhetoric on the terrorist group

QANTA AHMED, author of "In the Land of Invisible Women," and featured interviewee in the film "Honor Diaries"

• Debate over religious or cultural justification for female genital mutilation (FGM)
• Increasing rates of FGM in the Muslim diaspora communities in the West
• FGM, honor killings, child marriage, and gender inequality among particular Muslim cultures

BILL GERTZ, Senior Editor at the Washington Free Beacon:

• Multiple low altitude flyovers of a U.S. Navy warship in the Black sea by a Russian fighter jet—referred to by the US only as "unprofessional"
• Russia's military build-up along Ukraine's Eastern border
• Russia's denial of the "Open Skies" treaty which allows approved U.S. military over-flights throughout Russian airspace. Gertz has evidence that the US's reason for the cancellation of a flight was untrue.
• The Obama Administration's refusal to provide Ukraine with lethal, non-lethal or force multiplying aid

Rep. Doug Lamborn, Mark Schneider, Diana West, Bill Roggio

Congressman DOUG LAMBORN, of the 5th district of Colorado:

• The unanimous passage, in both the House and Senate, of legislation that bars terrorists from acquiring visas into the U.S. as ambassadors
• What Iran's appointment of a former terrorist says about its new "moderate" president, and what Obama's refusal to yet sign the bill says about his policy towards Iran
• The continuing assault on religious freedom in the military
• The importance of mitigating the security vulnerabilities of the nation's electric grid

Dr. MARK SCHNEIDER, Senior Analyst for the National Institute for Public Policy:

• Modernization of the Russian military by Putin's government
• The treaties Russia is currently violating
• Concerns about what the massive "Underground Great Wall" implies about China's nuclear capabilities, and China's aggressive weapons modernization program

DIANA WEST, author of "American Betrayal":

• Brandeis University's "silencing" of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and the crimes she speaks out against
• America's disregard of the ties between the Tsarnaev brothers, jihad, and a mosque in Cambridge, MA
• Is Islam being given special treatment with the new "safe spaces" initiative, or will all houses of worship now be declared surveillance free zones?

BILL ROGGIO, Editor of the Long War Journal:

•  Russian military activities in Eastern Ukraine
•  Problems in Syria complicating the mission to find and destroy its chemical weapons
• Tough policy choices for the US because of a dearth of moderate rebel groups in Syria—what are America's options?