National Security

No one loves peace more than the soldier that bleeds for it.

As your Congressman I will continue to support a strong national security policy that provides for the world’s most dominant military, but one that also integrates the other instruments of national power into a cohesive, comprehensive and seamless defense strategy.

The United States will always be a target for freedom-hating people, and so long as evil men threaten our way of life we must be prepared to defend ourselves and our allies. I have traveled to nearly eighty countries and I can tell you without a doubt that there are people in this world who despise America and want to commit acts of extreme violence against the American people. There are schools, like one I visited in Iraq, that have murals in the lunchroom of good Muslim warriors cutting the head off a snake with USA written on it. This was an elementary school. Children are indoctrinated from a very young age, and it is a part of their culture.

Although peer or near-peer military forces loom on the horizon, America is uncontested in the realm of major, conventional warfare. But in an age where a handful of terrorists can potentially wield nuclear power, our approach to national security must encompass the broadest range of diplomatic, informational, and economic tools available to it.
As we continue to evolve our military to defeat both conventional forces and insurgents, we must augment the Department of Defense with the other skills and resources that will mitigate the terrorist threat. Only by finding and fighting our nation’s enemies across all domains can we truly provide national security.

This is a mural in an elementary school in Iraq. Its purpose is to indoctrinate young children that it is every Muslim's duty to take up arms against the United States and Israel. There are madrasahs (a place of study) all over the Middle East where radical Islamist prepare future terrorist to attack America. This is very ingrained into their culture and we must always be prepared to defeat emerging threats.

“Todd Lally is a member of the Air National Guard. Use of his military rank, job titles, and photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement by the Department of the Air Force or the Department of Defense.”