Securing America with Frank Gaffney Podcast

Rep. Louie Gohmert, Luis Fleischman, Jon Iadoinisi, Gordon Chang

Rep. LOUIE GOHMERT (TX-1), Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security:

• Failed US policy and the consequences of dealing with the crisis in Syria
• A look ahead at the Benghazi Select Committee's first hearing on Wednesday
• Did the Administration’s actions in Libya help lead to the chaos there today?
• The Congressional fight against amnesty

LUIS FLEISCHMAN, author of “Latin American in the Post-Chavez Era”:

• Connections between the Venezuelan government and various jihadists organizations
• Findings of a Judicial Watch report claiming ISIS is operating out of Juarez, Mexico
• Venezuela’s bid for a seat at the United Nations Security Council
• Rising anti-Israeli sentiments in the Western Hemisphere

JON IADONISI, Founder of the White Canvas Group:

• The Islamic State's online information campaign
• The use of social media to spread radical Islam
• Differences between the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in tactics and world views

GORDON CHANG, author of “The Coming Collapse of China”:

• Doubtful prospects for Alibaba's IPO
• Russia and China’s energy alliance with lucrative oil contracts
• China’s increasingly tenuous economic growth

Rep. Jim Bridenstine, Rep. Mike Kelly, Bill Gertz

Rep. JIM BRIDENSTINE (OK-1), member of the House Armed Services Committee and House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology:

Part 1:

• Barack Obama's change in rhetoric on Iraq after he entered the 2008 presidential race
• Is a new Authorization to Use Military Force necessary for fighting the Islamic State?
• The uncharacteristic manner in which the 2011 Status of Forces Agreement for Iraq was pursued

Part 2:

• The potential for the U.S. to cripple the Russian economy by exporting energy resources to Europe
• Contrasting Vladimir Putin's augmentation of Russia’s nuclear arsenal while the U.S.’s atrophies
• Horrific realities if the U.S. electrical grid is compromised, and an unusually large solar storm expected to hit Earth this weekend

Rep. MIKE KELLY (PA-3), House Committee on Ways and Means member:

• The proposed U.N. Arms Trade Treaty's relationship to the 2nd Amendment and American strategy abroad
• The Senate’s responsibility to protect the country from inadvisable international agreements
• An upcoming conferences on the Arms Trade Treaty that bans opponents of the agreement from attending

BILL GERTZ, Senior Editor at the Washington Free Beacon:

• ISIS' threats to behead a third Westerner
• Russia’s increasingly capable nuclear armament and willingness to employ it
• China’s growing understanding of modern warfare and brinksmanship with U.S. flights

Bill Roggio, Fred Fleitz, Rep. Rob Wittman, ADM James Loy

BILL ROGGIO, managing editor of The Long War Journal:

• On the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, does the US truly understand the nature of the enemy it faces?
• The President's concerning rhetoric about the Islamic State in yesterday's speech
• Can the Saudis be trusted to properly combat the jihadist threat?

FRED FLEITZ, former CIA intelligence officer:

• The President’s plan to attack Islamic State targets in Syria with airstrikes
• Iranian influence in Iraq and Syria
• Russia's involvement in negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program
• Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller’s chances of curbing Russian violations of the INF Treaty

Rep. ROB WITTMAN, Chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee:

• The extent of jihadist extremism and the American ability to respond: 2014 vs. pre-9/11
• The need for President Obama to present Congress with specifics—not just objectives—for confronting the Islamic State
• Sequestration's impact on US military readiness
• Lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan concerning Congress's role in preparing the US budget for a possible long term military engagement

ADM. JAMES LOY, former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Administrator of the TSA, and Commandant of the US Coast Guard:

• Reflections on building up DHS and TSA after the 9/11 attacks
• The currently accelerating pace of change in US counter-terror planning in response to the formation of new terror groups after the weakening of "core Al Qaeda"
• Where is the federal government not adequately focusing on potential security vulnerabilities?
• Improving US resiliency planning to deal with possible cyber attacks on critical infrastructure

Rep. Scott Rigell, Jim Hanson, Avi Jorisch, Bill Squadron

Rep. Scott Rigell (VA-2), member of the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces

• Why President Obama's transfer of five senior Taliban members for American Bowe Bergdahl, violated the law
• The House's decision to pass Rigell's Resolution 644, which condemns Obama for the illegal prisoner trade
• President Obama's failure to provide a permanent solution to sequestration

JIM HANSON, former Army Special Operations Weapons Sergeant:

• A look back at the 9/11/11 Benghazi tragedy and potential “stand-down” orders
• President Obama’s loose rhetoric concerning the U.S. mission abroad
• A preview of what's to come in the fight against the Islamic State

AVI JORISCH, former policy advisor at the Treasury Department's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence:

• How American financial war techniques can help weaken state sponsors of terror
• The need for the U.S. to redefine Turkey, Qatar and others as “frenemies”
• Arguments for continuing to apply economic and financial pressure on Iran

BILL SQUADRON, Founder of Energypolicy.org:

• The upcoming documentary "Pump" and America's dependence on foreign oil
• Developing a non-partisan and inclusive dialogue on energy security policy
• The extent of the risks posed by manmade and natural threats to energy infrastructure

Bud McFarlane, Roger Noriega, Gordon Chang, and Kelly Carlson

ROBERT “BUD” McFARLANE, former National Security Advisor to President Reagan:

• ISIS’ procurement of oil and military resources that help make it a global threat
• Jihadist recruitment numbers exponentially increasing due to radical Islamist education
• Comparisons between the ideological war of the Cold War and the current rise in radical Islam

ROGER NORIEGA, former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs:

• Brazil’s upcoming presidential election and economic policy debate
• President Obama’s decision to defer amnesty until after the midterm elections
• Challenges of passing Venezuelan sanctions through Congress

GORDON CHANG, author of “The Coming Collapse of China”:

• A reconstitution of Russian aggression and the vital need to rollback Vladimir Putin
• North Korean efforts to develop a sea-based nuclear launch capability
• Communist indoctrination in Chinese society

KELLY CARLSON, renowned Hollywood actor:

• Vulnerable substations in close proximity to the southern border
• The dubious reliability of energy infrastructure security
• Ways to improve public awareness of the the risks to critical infrastructure

Debra Burlingame, A.B. Stoddard, Rep. Mark Meadows, Paul Bonicelli

DEBRA BURLINGAME, member of the board of directors of the 9/11 Memorial Museum:

• Links between border security, a strong economy, and American national security
• Is the U.S. justice system's reach long enough to bring jihadists to justice?
• Islamist claims that parts of the 9/11 Memorial Museum are racist

A.B. STODDARD, Associate Editor and Columnist at “The Hill”:

• The significance of a new Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF)
• Congressional hesitance to take definitive positions on Iraq so close to election season
• Inconsistencies on national security policy within the Republican Party
• The President’s announcement of a delay on an executive decision on amnesty

Rep. MARK MEADOWS (NC-11), Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

• Should harsher, more direct military action be applied against the Islamic State?
• The case against a specifics-based authorization of military force in Iraq
• Updates on the current West African Ebola crisis

PAUL BONICELLI, former Assistant Administrator for USAID Bureau of Latin America and the Caribbean:

• The nexus between Venezuela and Cuba
• The Monroe Doctrine’s lasting relevance to American national security
• Venezuela’s crumbling stability under Chavez-successor Nicolas Maduro

Victor Davis Hanson, Bruce Weinrod, Bill Gertz, Olivier Guitta

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution:

• Vladimir Putin’s ambition of ending the NATO Alliance
• Are nuclear weapon capabilities still an effective deterrence to conflict?
• President Obama’s increasingly isolationist foreign policy strategy
• Differing views of immigrants and Congress on immigration reform

BRUCE WEINROD, Former Secretary of Defense Representative to Europe and Defense Advisor to the U.S. Mission NATO:

• Is a contingency force of several thousand troops a useful deterrent against Vladimir Putin?
• The atrophying of American strategic and tactical nuclear capabilities
• Finding the political will to ensure that NATO is a credible alliance

BILL GERTZ, Senior Editor at The Washington Free Beacon:

• The case of eleven Libyan commercial jetliners missing after an Al-Qaeda-linked group captured the Tripoli Airport
• ‘Politicization of intelligence” in the Obama Administration
• A new FBI report that omits radical Islam as a domestic terrorist threat
• Concerns over Yemeni citizens training in the US to navigate oil tankers
• Advances in Chinese and North Korean military technology that threaten the U.S. pivot to Asia
• An FBI warning that Cuban intelligence is actively trying to recruit American assets, and especially liberal academics

OLIVIER GUITTA, a security and geopolitical risk expert on Africa and the Middle East:

• The continued downward spiral of the Libyan state after the Western-backed overthrow of the Gaddafi regime
• Threats stemming from the disappearance of 11 commercial jetliners in Libya
• Special techniques used to recruit females into jihadist organizations

Zalmay Khalilzad, Bill Roggio, Dr. Judith Curry, and Fred Fleitz

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, former US Ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the UN:

• Where the Obama Administration is failing in dealing with ISIS
• Recommended steps to defeat the Islamic State
• Will Congress authorize new military action in Iraq?
• Predictions for a unity government in Afghanistan

BILL ROGGIO, Managing Editor of the Long War Journal:

• Al Qaeda's declaration of a new affiliate in the Indian subcontinent
• Is the Jordanian government in denial about the threat posed to it by the Islamic State?
• A U.S. airstrike that may have critically damaged Al Shabaab’s leadership in Somalia

Dr. JUDITH CURRY, President of Climate Forecast Applications Network:

• The “ground truth” about global warming
• What scientific validity says about energy consumption?
• Comments made by Admiral Locklear of the U.S. Pacific Command regarding climate change
• Criticism faced by those who oppose the liberal stance on climate topics

FRED FLEITZ, senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy:

• Does President Obama take his intelligence briefs seriously?
• How NATO can deter Russian aggression
• North Korea's use of American detainees as bargaining chips

Chris Farrell, Cliff Kincaid, Andy McCarthy, Rep. Joe Heck

CHRIS FARRELL, Director of Research and Investigation at Judicial Watch:

• Concerns of an Islamic terrorist threat to the U.S.-Mexico border
• Ways that government buracracy hinders the pursuit of terrorists
• Was the “Bergdahl swap” legal?”

CLIFF KINCAID, President and Founder of America’s Survival Inc.:

• Russia’s propaganda war and the lack of a proper counter-narrative to it
• The Putin Administration’s long history of wrongdoing
• The isolationist slant of Libertarian national security objectives
• Koch Brothers’ business ties with China and Russia

ANDY McCARTHY, author of “Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obama’s Impeachment”:

• U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron’s failure to recognize Shariah’s roots in Islamic doctrine
• The Congressional bipartisan divide on how to deal with ISIS
• Examples of Islamic extremism outside of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State
• Is U.S. foreign Policy enabling an Iranian hegemony in the Middle East?

Rep. JOE HECK, (NV-3), member of the House Armed Services Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence:

• Reports of a possible teaming-up between ISIS and Mexican cartels in Juarez, Mexico
• Vulnerability of the American electric grid to jihadist extremists
• An argument for the authorization of military force to fight radical Islamist groups
• A look back at the controversial swap of the “Taliban Five” for Bowe Bergdahl

Diana West, Steve LeVine, Rep. Peter Roskam, Gordon Chang

DIANA WEST, author of “American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nations’s Character”:

• A look back at the Soviet partitioning of Poland during the beginning stages of World War II
• Harry Hopkins' role in FDR’s Administration and his Soviet-apologist tendencies
• President Obama’s strategy towards Iran and his reliance on advisor Valerie Jarrett

STEVE LeVINE, author of the upcoming book "The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World":

• Expected longterm impact of sanctions on Russia's oil industry
• Details on the proposed South Stream Pipeline meant to circumvent Ukraine in getting oil to Europe
• The Islamic State threat to energy security in Iraq

Rep. PETER ROSKAM, of Illinois' 6th Congressional District:

• The changing character of American support for Israel
• Assessing how badly damaged Hamas was by its recent battle with Israel
• Congressional efforts to stop Qatar's support for Hamas and other jihadist terrorist groups

GORDON CHANG, author of "The Coming Collapse of China":

• Protests over Beijing’s meddling in the upcoming 2017 election of the Hong Kong Chief Executive
• Why democracy is a direct threat to the Communist Party in China
• Aggressive Chinese behavior near the Hainan submarine base, and the U.S.'s failure to respond
• Vladimir Putin's use of the threat of nuclear weapons in his quest for dominance over Ukraine