US National Defense ,Trade & Foreign Policy!

We must Never forget the Price Paid for Freedom!

US Foreign Policy must be based on what it best for the United States of American and its’ Citizens First. It’s time we get serious and know the Truth before allowing more Bad Trade Deals or Treaties at the cost of Our Children’s Futures & Lives! Anyone who truly believes the Cold War is over needs to examine the Actions of China and Russia with the aggressive positions they’re taking whether Russia in Easter Europe and the Middle East and China’s North Korea Policy, Island Building and the Thousands of Cyber attacks to see where our threats are truly coming from. I’ve done extensive research and sought advice from Active Military on these subjects and told my conclusions are correct. The United States must restructure our involvement & support of the United Nations, it’s proven to cost us and benefit our enemies and supporters of a One World Government.

NATO and SEATO must be restructured to bring allies into the Real World and set goals such as fighting Terrorists and Refugee Infiltration into Europe then coming to US with the Aid of European Union Visa Program, we must also insist each member not only pay their share monetarily but with troops as well.  NATO & SEATO must join in our fight against the new technological aggression especially of China in the Cyber attacks at the US and our Allies, their ability to attack all in the Cyber World is far more dangerous to the Entire World than the Islamic Republic of Iran or N. Korea who we monitor 24/7 and have the technology to bring to their knees within minutes of any real launch at US or our Allies.

We’ll use the NATO / SEATO model for a new ( METO ) Middle East Treaty Organization this would clarify America’s involvement in the region as to what type of Aid both Military, Monetary or Humanitarian we’d be willing to give. No more Nation Building, wars in some instances maybe unavoidable, however our children don’t always need to be the ones fighting for the security of other nations. Israel will be included in METO as an ally along with Arab Countries.  America and the World will then clearly see if Arab Countries are willing to make a statement for the Security of the Region including Israel, this would take some true Contractual Negotiating Skills, which I believe at present are MIA in the Federal Government at all levels.

Our Trade agreements such as NAFTA, TPP, TPA or any Future Trade agreements TPP is a form of regional global governance masquerading as a trade organization. There are a series of predecessors: NAFTA, GATT and the WTO, each with some good measures that did reduce trade barriers, however laden with special privileges for international corporations and reams of controls and regulations which are anything but free market even if less regulated exchange is how they’ve been sold to the US for decades now. TPP allows any administration to implement the unpopular and failed North American Union trade pact (NAU) without warning.  The authorization for the President under Article Two, Section Two, Clause Two has the authority to negotiate treaties only with the Consent of Congress.  Congress must be involved in this process to guarantee the United States no longer enters into the treaties listed or future ones planned, to maintain Our Republic.

No More Free Trade / Fast Track Trade Agreements which only hurt the American Worker and our Economy.  Trade is an area where our leaders have let the Middle Class Worker and Small Business Owners down for decades as both wages shrink and jobs disappear whether shipped out or given to both legal and illegal aliens.  These policies led to a shrinking middle class with little future for those at the bottom of our economic ladder, which has led to more hatred, envy, distrust, civil unrest and division among Americans.  We must insist that all countries we trade with take back their citizens we deport and those on our borders must secure their borders if they intend to have continued good relations and trade with US. Senator McCain: Where’s the Dang Fence/Wall?

In the United States, the majority of so-called free trade agreements are implemented as congressional-executive agreements.[58] Unlike treaties, congressional-executive agreements require a majority of the House and Senate to pass.[58] Under “Trade Promotion Authority” (TPA), established by the Trade Act of 1974, Fast track (trade) Congress authorizes the President to negotiate “free trade agreements… if they are approved by both houses in a bill enacted into public law and other statutory conditions are met.”[58] In early 2012, the Obama administration indicated that a requirement for the conclusion of TPP negotiations is the renewal of “fast track” Trade Promotion Authority.[59] If “fast track” is renewed, then the normal treaty ratification and implementation procedure would be by passed, and the United States Congress would instead be required to introduce and vote on an administration-authored bill for implementing the TPP with minimal debate and no amendments, with the entire process taking no more than 90 days.[60] TPP = Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement; Check It Out , https://www.eff.org/issues/tpp,

We must abolish the so called Treaties etc. we’ve entered into such as NAFTA, GATT etc. In 2000, we had the golden opportunity to get America out of the destructive WTO (World Trade Organization) with the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), however it was killed, with the help of Pelosi & Boehner.  I was taught the Best Defense is a Great Offense, so let’s rebuild our Economy which is Our Best Offense.  A Strong Economy will enable us to rebuild and restructure our Military from Tooth ( our men and women ) serving, need upgrades in equipment, pay etc., to Tail the  (Bureaucracy ), needs to be shrunk by a significant amount as do all the Departments and Agencies in the Federal Government that are Constitutionally Authorized.  Our Military insures our continued economic growth as it secures the Sea & Air lanes needed for Trade, is how our founders set it up to begin with a Strong Navy.

Foreign Aid is something that may need to be given to true friends and allies – not to support the Industrial Military Manufacturing Complex they’ve built up over the Decades, which Presidents Truman & Eisenhower warned us against.  The monies we give to other countries in the form of aid goes to many of these companies knowing they buy arms to enslave the very people we’re trying to help.  Check Link for President Eisenhower’s Farewell Address; ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWiIYW_fBfY about 7 min. about Military Industrial Complex, also an explanation of what took place afterward ; Check this Video as well.

We must change these policies so our foreign aid be brought into compliance with the US Constitution which presently has no authority to give foreign aid, meaning we’d need to amend it to do so and that it actually helps the people improve their standard of living, helping the people not the government to enslave them. Foreign Aid is actually a system by which American Taxpayers are borrowing money and paying interest to pay other Nations in accordance with what our leaders call Our National Defense or Security to the so called Free World subsidies to many companies exporting from the US and keeping many countries ruled by nothing more than dictators in power.  Our US Constitution is written under what is called “positive grant” meaning the Federal Government is authorized to only participate in specifically laid out activities given authority in the US Constitution.  US Constitution Positive = authorized activities, Grant = Specifically Listed.  I believe the change in this Policy would also lead to ending the Military Industrial Complex controlling our Foreign Policy / State and Defense Departments, thereby giving all of US a Safer and Freer World. Can we really as a Nation continue to borrow Dollars to give to others and pay interest on them, take a look at Our National Debt. Read Link: 

The Second Part of this is based on advice given me by an Active Duty Officer in the Air Force, who I know and believe has the type of information more of our Office Holders and Candidates need to listen to when making decisions that effect the well being and safety of America as well as assisting Allies around the World.

Hi Van:  It was pleasure updating you this past week. As discussed, there are areas your opponent is incorrect or misinformed about our current military state of affairs. See some of my info below: Cobra Ball Spy Plane: We are able to see everything our enemies do from a safe distance technology outside state of the art and no ones able to do anything we can’t and don’t know.

Missile Defense for the United States and Allies: Early Warning Systems – There are a half dozen early warning sites as well as satellites that detect initial missile launch heat signatures, orbital tracking, and re-entry. These provide roughly 15 minutes (depending on distance travelled) of heads up to defense packages that will attempt to shoot down any threat. This site will talk about current sites and upgrades, Read Link: 

Missile Defense Systems:The big thing to remember is that while many of our biggest threats come from major countries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, none of them are going to attack with nuclear weapons because in doing so we would immediately retaliate and destroy them. We have automatic retaliatory weapons that can “return the favor” autonomously even after a large scale EMP (Electromagnetic pulse). We have roughly 40 interceptor missiles on the west coast that are designed and tested to successful take out a warhead midflight. Read about other types of missile defense systems: http://www.mda.mil/system/system.html,

Reconnaissance Systems: My job is to perform ballistic missile reconnaissance where ever our aircraft might be tasked around the world. These missions are often with the major players you hear about on the news. The aircraft is called the Cobra Ball and has a history stretching back to the 1960’s. Reconnaissance helps our joint chiefs of staff weigh in on global treaties and threats to our country & allies, set requirements for future defense systems. Read about our aircraft and  missions: http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/FactSheets/Display/tabid/224/Article/104498/rc-135s-cobra-ball.aspx,

Cyber Warfare The Largest threat to US: While nuclear threat is scary because of its immediate impact on society, the larger threat remains that of Cyber Warfare. Stop and think about everything important that runs our country. Now try and think of one of those things that aren’t controlled by computers.  I’m certain you couldn’t think of something. If it is connected to a computer then it is connected to a network. ANY NETWORK CAN BE HACKED! Even Apple thought that the US government couldn’t hack into an I Phone, they were wrong. The US government paid NON-GOVERNMENT hackers, the same type that get in trouble for hacking into government agencies and had them hack in that I Phone. Now if one of the largest electronic companies in the world (APPLE) thinks they are not vulnerable and they still get hacked, imagine how vulnerable our infrastructure is. The good thing is much of our infrastructure has fail safes to avoid catastrophic failure of our “Grid.” But this doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Read the article in the link below to see what Time Magazine posted about the cyber threat in America: http://time.com/3928086/these-5-facts-explain-the-threat-of-cyber-warfare/,

Wasteful End of Year Spending: Lastly, lets talk about how mid-year and end-of-year spending works in the military. Each year every unit in the military requests a budget. Let’s say that budget is $10 million. Half way through the year they will likely be sent more money, regardless if they end up needing it. Let’s say $250,000 was sent to them to finish of the first half of the year, but they ended up not really needing it. Well, they are not going to say that to the funding office because if they refuse the money then that means they over-budgeted for the year. Not only will they probably reduce their second half of the year by $250,000, but next year they will give them $500,000 less than this year. So what do they do? They spend that $250,000 on anything they can. Right now as I write this there are emails sitting in my inbox asking me to come up with ideas on how to spend the money. It’s absurd! My unit is only 182 members, do some quick math. If we have $250,000 and divide it by 182 we get $1373 per member. There are 400,000 members in the Air Force. Even if we lowered the amount to $1000 per member it would total, $4 billion!!! Now that’s probably a bit exaggerated, but even if that number were true for the whole year it’s out of control. This comes from a broken system that leadership is afraid to address because they want to protect their units from being underfunded. You can read a great research paper about the topic here: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/jeffreyliebman/LiebmanMahoneyExpiringBudgets.pdf,

Vans’ Solution to Military Procurement of Needed Parts and Wasteful Spending: The most recent news about having to find parts for our Air Force is no Surprise, however my Question; Why haven’t all Our Military been doing this to begin with rather than just allowing needed parts to sit in Museums, Open Storage Areas while we Buy more parts from the Military Industrial Complex giving them more dollars and power, while increasing the Debt of America.  This is done daily by most Auto, Electrical, Plumbing etc. as long as the parts are still good and proven so then why not set up a system to remove those parts from all Military Equipment and put in a system where they can access the parts we’ve already paid for, not to mention then scrapping the left over materials to receive funds to offset any costs incurred by salvage operation, once again as long as they pass inspection more Efficient way of utilizing the Funds Allocated for Military not to mention the previous statement of the waste of spending in the Military in this handout Category; Wasteful End of Year Spending.

Let me know if you have any questions on the military related issues and I will do my best to provide the answers. Take care and I’ll be following the election to see how things turn out!  Here are some links on the recent global activity that you won’t find in the regular news: North Korea Launch, Watch Video;, Russia Hypersonic Vehicle:Read Link, Iran and North Korea are working together: Read Link.

I hope you found all the above information helpful and will pass onto others, as we need more informed Americans as to what’s really going on.  

• In Closing: Election Cycles are Critical Our Nation, whether we sink deep into a Socialistic Nation or Restore Ourselves to a True Republic form of Government. The choices are clear, we must never support anyone that votes against or compromises the US Constitution and Our Freedoms and believe that’s what most of us believe in and hope for, and the GOP Elite Power Brokers are Afraid of: ( Time to Drain All Political Swamps)… 

God Bless You All; Clair Van Steenwyk

Clair’s available to speak / meet with groups or private citizens upon request; use contact button above, call 623-322-9979, or email: crossroadswithvan@gmail.com