Manitou Messenger

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Opinions

Media Credit: Andy Rollins

Sen. John McCain believes the major responsibility of the president is to protect American citizens, which is why he places such strong emphasis on homeland security. He has continually worked on legislation to make sure our country is safe, co-creating the 9/11 Commission and making its recommendations a reality.

McCain's vision of homeland security establishes preventative measures against terrorist attacks and also takes into account preparations for responding to and recovering from disasters of any kind, whether they are accidents or natural disasters.

In order to prevent future attacks on our country, McCain supports strong international cooperation as well as the development of intelligence collecting and analysis. His administration will work with global allies to find and stop terrorist organizations abroad.

To this end, McCain strongly backs the modernization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, calling for reform in gathering information to ensure that it is used effectively.

In order to secure our borders, McCain proposes to toughen the screening process of individuals and cargo crossing our borders. McCain seeks to provide the necessary funding to agencies working to protect our borders so that they have access to state-of-the-art technology and sufficient personnel.

To protect our technology so that information does not get into the wrong hands, McCain will step up counter-proliferation efforts and work with our allies to make sure certain countries do not obtain information or materials to develop nuclear weapons or obtain our nation's classified information.

McCain believes that to make homeland security effective, there must be cooperation between the federal and local levels as well as public-private partnerships. The McCain administration will treat state and local authorities as equal partners with the federal government in a crisis situation, allocating funding to state, local and tribal governments on a risk assessment basis and providing areas of highest risk with the most funding.

McCain's homeland security policy encourages the sharing of information up and down the governmental ladder, between local and federal levels, in order to detect threats, manage crises and to ensure our nation's safety.

Abbey Holt '10 is from Shoreview, Minn. She majors in biology, chemistry and math.

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