State of Kansas Archives: on Homeland Security


Roger Marshall: Ensure that our military installations are fully funded

"We must get our federal government back to its core functions--chief among them is our national defense. America is the world's pre-eminent superpower, but we cannot be the world's policeman. However, when American lives or interests are in danger, our enemies should know we will act swiftly and decisively."--Roger Marshall

The most basic role of government is to defend Americans. We must ensure that Ft. Riley and our other military installations are fully funded.

Source: 2016 Kansas House campaign website KansansForMarshall.com Nov 8, 2016

Conner Eldridge: Ensure stable military and VA funding

Conner's plan to support our Veterans and military families
Source: 2016 Senate campaign website, ConnerForArkansas.com Aug 31, 2016

Patrick Wiesner: Served 21 years in military; 3 years in Iraq & Afghanistan

In 2014, Patrick retired as a US Army Reserve Judge Advocate (the military term for attorney) with the rank of Major. He had over 21 years of military service, all as a reservist.

His military career started out by enlisting in the Naval Reserves; he joined the Army as a direct commission First Lieutenant assigned to the team at Fort Leavenworth. This duty included travel throughout western Kansas working to prepare Army Reserve units for deployments by drafting wills and powers of attorneys for soldiers and giving instructions of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, reemployment rights, and the law of war.

He has served on three year-long deployments; twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. In his two Iraq deployments, he gave legal opinions on Army requests to use the Iraqi Security Forces Fund to train and equip the Iraqi army, police, and border patrol.

Source: 2016 Kansas Senate campaign website, WiesnerForSenate.com Apr 1, 2016

Roy Blunt: FactCheck: Did not disclose student deferment from Vietnam

Blunt received 3 draft deferments while a college student in the late 1960s. Blunt's office did not disclose the deferments in 2015, when the newspaper specifically asked about the senator's draft history.

Blunt said he had not hidden the deferments. "Anytime anybody ever asked me about that, I would have said I had student deferments," he said. But Blunt's office did not disclose the deferments in 2015, when The Star directly asked if he had ever received one.

"Senator Blunt was 1A status in 1969, the year of the first draft lottery," the office had replied. "His number was in the low 300s and was never called."

Federal draft records show Blunt's draft status in 1969 wasn't 1-A, or eligible for service. Instead, he was classified as 2-S, which is a student deferment. That deferment, not a high lottery number, protected Blunt from the draft in 1969.

Blunt's staff said this week that poor memories and difficult-to-obtain draft records may have contributed to the confusion.

Source: Kansas City Star Fact-Check on 2016 Missouri Senate race Feb 10, 2016

Sam Brownback: Arm additional security at National Guard facilities

Last summer, in response to the attack on recruiting facilities in Tennessee, I ordered Adjutant General Tafanelli to complete a comprehensive security assessment of all Kansas National Guard facilities. Included in his report was a plan to arm and train additional personnel and make security enhancements to our National Guard facilities. My budget proposal includes funding to support these activities.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to Kansas legislature Jan 12, 2016

Curtis Coleman: AdWatch: Boozman voted to curtail civil liberties; I won't

Senate candidate Curtis Coleman launched a new video going after Sen. John Boozman. Coleman is a Republican challenger seeking Boozman's U.S. Senate seat.

In his video, Coleman attacks Boozman's voting record and calls it one of the "worst on record." He ties a number of Boozman's votes to President Barack Obama's agenda and said he "voted to curtail civil liberties."

"John is an incredibly nice person, but we don't need someone to go to the Senate to be Barack Obama's best friend. We need someone to be Tom Cotton's wingman," Coleman said.

Coleman mentioned in his video that Boozman got an "F" on his liberty score from Conservative Review. Wrapping up, Coleman said that if he gets elected, he'll be Arkansas' "pro-civil liberties" senator.

Source: Arkansas Matters AdWatch on 2016 Arkansas Senate race Nov 20, 2015

Curtis Coleman: Oppose unconstitutional activities by the NSA

4th Amendment and Privacy Rights: I will be a champion of our rights to privacy in the Senate. I will oppose unconstitutional activities by the NSA which invade our privacy and limit our rights.
Source: 2016 Arkansas Senate campaign website, CurtisColeman.com Nov 11, 2015

Nathan LaFrance: Meta-data collection of phone records is unconstitutional

The US Constitution is clear--Americans have a right to privacy that cannot be violated by the federal government except upon probably cause resulting in a warrant describing the person, place or things to be seized.

Revelations about current NSA domestic spying programs, being run under the direction of the Obama Administration, have shown an almost complete disregard for our Constitutional rights.

Contrary to administration claims, large-scale meta-data collection of Americans' phone records is a violation of privacy. Through this meta-data, the federal government has access to a tremendous amount of personal information on innocent Americans, including who we speak to, how often we speak with people, where we are located when we make or receive calls and the duration of our calls.

New details continue to emerge on other NSA programs, such as email and internet monitoring. As Americans, we must stand NOW and fight for our rights. Nathan LaFrance will fight to reign in the NSA.

Source: 2014 Arkansas Senate campaign website, LaFrance2014.com Sep 30, 2014

Randall Batson: Strongly opposes expanding the armed forces

Q: Do you support or oppose expanding the armed forces?

A: Strongly Oppose.

Source: E-mail interview on Kansas 2014 Senate race with OnTheIssues Sep 19, 2014

Randall Batson: Bring our troops home; close bases overseas

While stationed overseas in the Navy, in some places the people of that nation protested our presence. Nations and people should be given respect. Our soldiers standing on their soil isn't the best diplomacy.

Bring our troops home from foreign lands and defend America. Claims that this is isolationism or being naive are incorrect. Peaceful trade and commerce benefits all and is not isolationism but expands peace and prosperity. Examples are our former enemies Vietnam, Japan, and Germany.

Source: 2014 Kansas Senate campaign website batson4senate.weebly.com Aug 31, 2014

Pat Roberts: $200M for new fleet of tankers at McConnell Air Force Base

Roberts has a tricky task in this campaign: to showcase his clout in Congress as a reason to give him another term without allowing a grass-roots, anti-Washington movement to coalesce against him. His balancing act was on display at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita last week. A group of high-ranking politicians, including Roberts, had gathered to break ground on a nearly $200 million construction project for a new fleet of refueling tankers. Roberts boasted that he'd been pushing Congress since 2003 to act on the issue, going as far as hauling in a 3-foot rusty piece of the aging fleet to convince lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee the investment was worth it.

Gov. Sam Brownback showered Roberts with praise for his work on the project, as well as his support for a $404 million research lab at Kansas State University.

Source: Politico.com weblog on 2014 Kansas Senate race Jul 8, 2014

Milton Wolf: Maintain a superior nuclear arsenal

Question topic: The United States must maintain a nuclear arsenal that is safe, reliable, modern and numerically superior to those of potential adversaries.

Wolf: Strongly Agree

Source: Faith2Action iVoterGuide on 2014 Kansas Senate race Jul 2, 2014

Greg Orman: Understand costs of military action, including veterans

Too often we engage in military action without fully understanding the costs. At the same time, I believe that if America makes a promise or a threat we must actually keep it. Over the last two administrations we seem to have failed at both. We must also ensure that after the last bullet is fired we don't forget our veterans. It's clear that Washington has not honored that sacred commitment and is jeopardizing their lives long after they leave the battlefield.
Source: KSN.com Q&A on 2014 Kansas Senate race Jun 25, 2014

Tom Cotton: AdWatch: No sense of entitlement from serving in military

NBC News asked Pryor whether he thought Cotton's two combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan were a qualification for running for the Senate. Pryor responded "no" but added, "I think that's part of this sense of entitlement that he gives off, almost like, 'I served my country, therefore let me into the Senate.' That's not how it works in Arkansas."

Cotton denied having any "sense of entitlement" from serving in the military, saying, "I certainly didn't learn one chasing after cattle on the farm. And the last thing my drill sergeant taught me was a sense of entitlement." Cotton said he joined the military after the Sept. 11 attacks and is a strong advocate for veterans, praising the intangible skills of vets like leadership to employers.

In attack ads, Pryor has accused Cotton of being too extreme, which Cotton countered with Pryor's support of the healthcare law: "The only that's extreme is casting the decisive vote for ObamaCare five years ago and still standing by it today," he said.

Source: Washington Times AdWatch on 2014 Arkansas Senate race Mar 10, 2014

Chad Taylor: Advocate of a national defense respected throughout world

Taylor said he would work through November to introduce himself so voters would know he was an advocate of a national defense respected throughout the world, an economy that delivered good-paying jobs, and a government that didn't intrude on established constitutional rights of citizens. He said national health insurance reform, known as ObamaCare, had positive elements but was implemented poorly and in need of bipartisan repair. Taylor said he would work through November to introduce himself so voters would know he was an advocate of a national defense respected throughout the world, an economy that delivered good-paying jobs, and a government that didn't intrude on established constitutional rights of citizens. He said national health insurance reform, known as ObamaCare, had positive elements but was implemented poorly and in need of bipartisan repair.
Source: 2014 Kansas Senate debate coverage by CjOnline.com Feb 28, 2014

Roy Blunt: Amended defense bill for company donating $20,000

Carnahan accused Blunt of doing favors for a California company by slipping in a helpful amendment to a defense bill. Blunt's action, Carnahan said, resulted in campaign donations a short while later from company executives and trips on the corporation's jet. "I think that's wrong," Carnahan said.

Blunt countered that the $355 billion defense bill in question passed overwhelmingly. Even former Sen. Jean Carnahan, Robin Carnahan's mother, voted for it, he said. "Don't act like this is something that made a difference, that somebody makes a $1,000 contribution and that makes a difference to me," Blunt said. "Give me a break."

Carnahan's campaign said afterwards that executives from the company, Perfectwave, had given Blunt's leadership committee about $20,000 in donations. As Blunt was speaking, Carnahan cut him off and demanded to know if he had ridden the corporation's jet. Blunt said he had ridden it once and reimbursed the company.

Source: Kansas City Star coverage of 2010 Missouri Senate debate Oct 15, 2010

Joe Bellis: More spending to develop new weapons