Our Plan For America: on Homeland Security

Improve intelligence capabilities to counter terrorism

We can more effectively prevent another terrorist attack by: restoring the credibility of our intelligence community by ensuring the basic integrity of the intelligence process. We will make certain that our intelligence agencies are protected from political pressures and operate in a culture of diversity of thought, dissent, and forceful challenging of assumptions; strengthening accountability & leadership by creating a true Director of National Intelligence with the authority to manage & direct all of the components of the intelligence community; maximizing coordination and integration by structuring around key threats like terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and hostile countries; transforming our intelligence services to ensure that they have sufficient personnel with the skills, languages, training, & orientation needed to meet today's threats. We will make sure that the FBI is fully prepared to perform counter-terrorism intelligence operations and strengthen our capabilities overseas. Source: Our Plan For America, p. 13

Cut off terrorists funds

Terrorists need money to operate. We will: impose tough financial sanctions against nations or banks that engage in money laundering or fail to act against it; launch a "name and shame" campaign against those financing terror, and shut out of the US financial system those nations that fail to respond, end Bush's kid-glove approach to the supply & laundering of terrorist money in Saudi Arabia, and demand Riyadh shut down Saudi-based "charities" that help finance al Qaeda and other terrorist networks. Source: Our Plan For America, p. 14

Prevent Afghanistan & others from becoming terrorist havens

Our drive to topple the Taliban regime convincingly demonstrated the courage and skill of our troops, the value of powerful new technologies, and the particular importance of Special Forces units in defeating unconventional enemies. Unfortunately, we have not followed with a plan or the commitment to win the peace. Bush has all but turned away from Afghanistan, allowing it to become a forgotten front in the war on terror and once again a potential breeding ground for terrorists. Source: Our Plan For America, p. 15

Individual Ready Reserve call-up is used as a backdoor draft

The vast majority of the Army's active duty combat divisions are committed to Iraq, either currently there, preparing to go, or recently returned. We've called up our Guard and Reserves at historic levels. Some have been on the ground in Iraq for as many as 15 months - much longer than was promised. And many of these units are stretched far too thin. Bush's answer has just been to stretch further. They are effectively using a stop-loss policy and the Individual Ready Reserve call-up as a back-door draft. Source: Our Plan For America, p. 18

Expand active duty and Army's forces to security peace

We will expand America's active duty forces by 40,000; double the Army's Special Forces capability within 4 years, while adding a special operations helicopter squadron to the Air Force; increase by 50 percent the number of civil affairs troops trained in the special responsibilities of reconstruction; increase our military police, because order is critical to establishing the conditions that allow peace to take hold; and add 500 "psychological operations" personnel and augment their language training. Source: Our Plan For America, p. 19

Offer a military modernization plan for the troops

We offer a military modernization plan that will create more fully modernized "digital divisions," equipped with the latest communications technology crucial to future military success; create new "anti-proliferation" units trained and equipped to find and destroy nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and to secure the facilities that produce them; and provide full support for education and training for our troops, including on how to deal effectively with culturally diverse civilian populations. Source: Our Plan For America, p. 19

Ensure Americans in uniform receive benefits they deserve

We will enact a Military Family Bill of Rights that includes a commitment to full, mandatory funding of veterans' health care; a commitment to competitive pay for service members, including special compensations for those in combat zones; up-to-date and accurate notice to military families about deployments and rotations that send troops away from home or back home; financial help for families affected by extended deployments; a guarantee of adequate housing for military families, beginning with the accelerated construction by private developers of new housing on or near military bases; full access for all military personnel, whether active duty, National Guard, or Reserves, to TRICARE; full funding for Department of Defense schools serving military families, which Bush has sought to cut; a new $250,000 gratuity for families of service members killed in a combat zone; and doubling the period during which families of service members killed in action can continue to live in military housing. Source: Our Plan For America, p. 21

Keep our promises to American veterans

There are countless veterans who fought our wars who are now fighting year after year for the benefits they earned. Bush refuses to fully fund veterans' health care. While boasting of cutting waitlists for VA health care, the Bush administration has done so by excluding nearly 500,000 veterans from enrolling. Bush has strongly opposed granting our nation's veterans full disability and retirement pay. We will end the game of playing politics with funding for veterans health care by making it mandatory. We will end the "disabled veterans tax," under which military retirees who receive both veteran's pensions and disability compensation must surrender a dollar from their military retirement pay for every dollar they get for military compensation. America deserves a commander-in-chief who will fight for a constant standard of decency and respect for those who serve their country in our armed forces-on active duty and as veterans. It should be no other way and in our administration, it will be no other way Source: Our Plan For America, p. 22

Make better use of the National Guard

We need to make better use of what should be a key asset in homeland defense - our National Guard. The National Guard has served in every war, and they are serving now. They were the first ones called on to line city streets, guard bridges, and patrol our airports after September 11th. We will make homeland security one of their primary missions, and assign Guard units to a standing national task force on homeland security commanded by a National Guard general. Source: Our Plan For America, p. 23

Cast a global net for terrorists

Al Qaeda alone is known to operate in more than 60 countries. We need the cooperation of intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world to cast a global net for terrorists, infiltrate their cells, learn their plans, cut off their funds, and stop them before they can attack. We will strengthen the effectiveness of intelligence and law enforcement efforts around the world by forging stronger international coalitions and enhancing cooperative relationships. Source: Our Plan For America, p.225

*The above quotations are from Our Plan For America, by John Kerry and John Edwards, August 2004.* Click here for definitions & background information on Homeland Security. Click here for more quotes by John Kerry on Homeland Security. Click here for more quotes by John Edwards on Homeland Security.
*Other candidates on Homeland Security:*
George W. Bush Dick Cheney John Edwards John Kerry *Third Party Candidates:* Michael Baradnik Peter Camejo David Cobb Ralph Nader Michael Peroutka	*Democratic Primaries:* Carol Moseley Braun Wesley Clark Howard Dean Dick Gephardt Bob Graham Dennis Kucinich Joe Lieberman Al Sharpton
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