John Flerlage Discusses Security

Nuclear Proliferation. The highest priority of the United States must be the prevention of the spread of nuclear weapons.

The United States must continue to work with its allies to this end. The U. S. also must increase its diplomatic efforts with Russia, India and China to reduce access to loose materials in those regions.

Defeating Terrorism. Defeating terrorism must begin in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It is essential that military resources in the Middle East concentrate on this front. The United States must work with our allies in all aspects; intelligence, military, diplomatic, law enforcement and economic development to prevent further attacks and to prevent the strengthening of extremist groups in the rest of the world, particularly in Iraq, Lebanon, Algeria, and Sudan, and in various countries of the Pacific Region.

The Middle East. The United States has five primary security interests in the Middle East: nuclear proliferation, the war in Iraq, the security of Israel, the war against terror, and energy.

The United States must work with China to prevent nuclear proliferation and encourage China to withdraw support for countries that do not respect the basic rights of their citizens. The United States must make greater efforts to reduce our trade deficit with China and to protect the intellectual property of our citizens.

I support increased troop levels in the Army and Marine Corps. I also support a review of strategic weapons systems to ensure that the costs of these systems are commensurate with the promised benefit to the American people. I support further base closures as recommended by the services and the appropriate commissions.

The United States must implement the recommendations of the Hart-Rudman Commission on National Security, create comprehensive border reform legislation, and improve our relations with Mexico to reduce risks to domestic security.

I support efforts to create a national energy policy that reduces our dependence on oil and other sources of imported energy.

The U. S. must be more effective in ensuring the safety of the food supply. The FDA has inadequately responded to congressional oversight and direction resulting in repeated failures in its mission to inspect food imports and quickly find the sources of food contamination. I support Representative DeGette's (CD1) efforts to make the FDA more accountable and responsive to this critical issue.

I applaud and support the success of integrating state, local and federal agencies, such as the West Metro Task Force, in fighting drugs in our district.

I also applaud and support the Mexican government in its recent efforts to take on the drug cartels. In the long run, the U.S. must reduce the demand side of the drug problem thus reducing the need for our military and law enforcement involvement in other countries for the purpose of fighting the drug trade.

The National Guard must be in Colorado to perform its domestic security and disaster preparedness functions.

Therefore, Guard involvement in the Iraq war must end. I support funding for improvements in all aspects of disaster preparedness including biological, medical and natural disasters preparedness and prevention. I will work to ensure that Colorado receives the necessary federal funding for these functions. I also support the Governor's initiative in setting up an office to coordinate state disaster preparedness.

I support federal programs that put more local police on the streets and in our schools.

Local law enforcement must have the tools and personnel to interact with other agencies. They must have the resources to support disaster preparedness and to fight all types of crime including Internet, drug, gang violence, child pornography, and white collar crime.