Consumer accountability drives quality and efficiency.
— Pete Hoekstra
Governing has always been hard.
I will never forget standing with fellow members of Congress on the steps of the Capitol to sing 'God Bless America' on the night of 9/11.
Ensuring that the intelligence community adheres to its responsibilities to report on its activities to Congress is absolutely essential.
Yes, Gaddafi was a ruthless dictator and supporter of terrorism during his 40-year reign in Libya, but he had become an ally of the United States in the fight against radical jihadism after 9/11.
Should President Clinton have killed Osama bin Laden when he had the opportunity in 1990s? Should President Bush have sent the U.S. military into Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein in 2003? Should President Obama have withdrawn all troops from Iraq in 2011? Such questions provide no real insight into future considerations.
The forces that rescued Americans on Sept. 11, 2012, were not the U.S. military. They were not the militias that overthrew Gadhafi. They were Gadhafi devotees who were loyal to him and to the U.S. government with whom their leader reached a 'deal.'
The answer as to why ISIS gained power and influence, and why stability in the Middle East has disastrously deteriorated, does not require extensive analysis.
I served 10 years on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, and I had the distinct privilege of meeting with real U.S. spies throughout the globe.
Hard work, years of sacrifice, and dedication are necessary to succeed in the real world. Snowden's most notable accomplishment was lying about his military service, his experience, and education to procure a job with the NSA in the first place.
Nobody walks away with everything they want in politics.
Good governance requires working toward common ground. It isn't easy.
As a member and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee during the 2000s, I met with civilian and military officials in Kurdistan, Libya, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, and Yemen. They shared many of the same international defense priorities as the United States. We acknowledged our differences, but we worked from where we found common ground.
Gadhafi was a monster who ruled his country for 42 years with an iron fist and became an international pariah as a result. However, he found religion once he recognized his perilous position when the U.S. adopted an uncompromising response to international terrorism following 9/11.
America's bipartisan strategy for years has been to deny jihadists with sanctuaries anywhere in the world from where they can plan, prepare, and train for attacks against the West.
Choosing to arm and train the Islamist opposition against dictator Moammar Gadhafi unleashed its most ruthless terrorist elements.
Radical jihadists hate Americans for who we are. They cannot be managed. They cannot be trusted. Engaging them is a tragic fool's errand. We need to realize that they are at war with us and that we cannot control their motivations. We instead need to confront them, contain them, and ultimately defeat them before they defeat us.
Any customer of government - whether it's with education, taxes, housing, or health care - understands the frustrations when they have a bad experience. They're stuck and can't go anywhere else.
Demanding an end to partisan bickering on foreign policy is not an unrealistic requirement.
When I came to Congress in 1993, the traditional idea that all politics stopped at the water's edge was alive and well. Americans had been unified for the previous four decades against the threat from the former Soviet Union and communism.
Complying with requests from Congress is not optional. It is mandatory.
No president can amend the past, and the public is tired of candidates who simply point fingers instead of offering their own solutions. They want a leader who will describe the threats as they are and rally the country behind a strategy to defeat them.
Asking presidential candidates whether they support or would change past foreign policy decisions is the most common line of questioning among members of the media. It's also the most pointless.
Libya stood as a source of stability in volatile northern Africa in 2011. The administration turned it into a failed state that exposed southern Europe to refugees and terrorist elements, all of which Gadhafi had warned about.
Nobody will ever agree with everything everyone says, especially once an issue or speaker becomes politically charged. But as tolerant and civilized Americans, we should at least have the decency to hear them out.
There are no consequences for Snowden breaking the law in Snowden's World. It's where his massively inflated ego dictates the rules and determines which he will follow.
While the primary focus continues to be on religious minorities - the Christian religious minorities and the Jewish community - ISIS will also go after people who interpret and believe the Muslim faith differently than they do.
House Speaker John Boehner and presumed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell understand the art of politics.
Decisions concerning covert actions are not often easily reached.
The U.S. should prohibit perpetrators and supporters of Islamist brutality from entering the country while embracing advocates for religious freedom. End of story.
Former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and the radical Islamist mullahs ruling Iran share many similarities, but honesty and negotiating in good faith are not among them.
The overall feckless strategy against ISIS in Syria and Iraq enabled the Islamist organization to expand its domain and drive out more religious minorities.
The policies and laws executed by the grand mufti in Libya, the long-term agenda in the short-lived Morsi government in Egypt, and by ISIS in its ideal Islamist Ummah are incompatible with the Constitution, period.
Foreign policy is painstakingly difficult, and if there is to be anything gained from the experience in Libya, it is how not to conduct world affairs.
Choices abound in the free market. Choice creates real and immediate accountability.
Americans must step back and realize that an effective foreign policy is very difficult to devise, and we must present a united front to make it work.
From my experience as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, if a congressperson is identified as a potential target by a foreign intelligence service, that individual is notified.
America needs to fully grasp the lessons learned from our history of fighting radical jihadists. There have been successes and failures.
The media should probe and challenge candidates to help voters understand their views on foreign policy. Questions should include, 'What lessons have you learned from past foreign policy decisions? How will they shape your vision as commander in chief? What is America's role in the world?'
The U.S. must remember - as the Gadhafi loyalists have and Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh are now realizing - that it cannot get into bed with groups affiliated with the jihadist movement.
The Obama-Clinton administration gambled with America's national security by embracing radical jihadists, and the world lost.
The silence caused by politicizing speech is deafening.
America is the freest country on the planet, but for Snowden, this isn't enough. He is a state diplomat in Snowden land.
The Kurds in Iraq just don't have enough military equipment - they also need humanitarian relief.
Gingrich, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, and Clinton passed legislation because they understood and appreciated the difficult political process. They fought for their principles yet recognized the need for compromise to get anything done.
Belonging to the Gang of Eight carries massive responsibility in representing all 435 members of the legislature in very sensitive national security exercises.
The Obama administration notoriously refuses to acknowledge that Islamists commit Islamist terror, so it logically follows that a Christian victim of Islamist violence should not address the issue lest it challenge accepted political orthodoxy.
America needs a bipartisan foreign policy that is predictable, pragmatic, and understandable.
Once the U.S. and NATO walked away from Libya, a chaotic, lawless state in the soft underbelly of Europe arose.
Clinton appears to be the sole holdout in the Obama administration in understanding the catastrophe caused by its foreign policy in Libya.
