Secured Olympics held a few months after 9/11:
“I worked very closely with him on all the security arrangements out there, and the security arrangements that we came up with and that he spearheaded, now are used in the Superbowl and almost every major venue in the country. I mean he's a leader!”
metacafe.com - Senator Orrin Hatch - Aug 2007
“On February 11, 1999 the committee named Romney the new president and CEO of the Salt Lake City Games. He was charged with restoring faith in the beleaguered event, and rescuing the Olympics from failure. Romney revamped the organization's leadership and policies, reduced budgets and boosted fundraising. He also worked to ensure the safety of the Games following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by coordinating a $300 million security budget. Despite the initial fiscal shortfall, the Games ended up clearing a profit of $100 million.
(» Speech on Olympic terror concerns & precautions)
“ "Romney and his group here, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, did one of the great organizing jobs of all time," said NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol. Following the conclusion of the Games, then-US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta congratulated the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, "who under Mitt Romney's leadership, hosted perhaps the best Winter Olympic Games ever." President George Bush also praised Romney's management of the Games. "Mitt, you did a fabulous job," said the President at a White House ceremony recognizing the Salt Lake City Olympics.”
QuickOverview.com - Mitt Romney
Sought Death Penalty for Terrorists:
“In December 2004, Romney announced plans to file a death penalty bill in early 2005.
Refused to give Honors & State Support for Terror Sponsors:
“On September 5, 2006 Governor Romney denounced Harvard University of Cambridge, Massachusetts for inviting former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to speak at the school. Khatami has been accused of being responsible for the torture of political dissidents, the continuation of the development of Iran's nuclear program and the sponsoring of Hezbollah.
“Romney ordered all state agencies to boycott the visit by refusing to provide state police escorts and other service typically given to former heads of state. "State taxpayers should not be providing special treatment to an individual who supports violent jihad and the destruction of Israel," said Romney. Khatami was invited to speak about "Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence" on September 10 - one day before the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
(The State Department must ensure the safety of all foreign dignitaries, so Khatami was protected by the federal government. Romney's move just ensured that Khatami didn't get state honors, including a procession by state police.)
“ "The U.S. State Department listed Khatami's Iran as the number one state sponsor of terrorism. Within his own country, Khatami oversaw the torture and murder of dissidents who spoke out for freedom and democracy. For him to lecture Americans about tolerance and violence is propaganda, pure and simple," said Romney, "It's very important to engage with moderate, modern Muslims, but former President Khatami is a wolf in sheep's clothing," he said.
“While speaking in America, Khatami struck a moderate tone, denouncing suicide bombers and stating his belief that Israel has a right to exist. However these views sharply contrasted to comments made during his tenure as President. "In the Qur'an, God commanded to kill the wicked and those who do not see the rights of the oppressed," said Khatami in a 2000 interview on Iranian TV, "If we abide by human laws, we should mobilize the whole Islamic World for a sharp confrontation with the Zionist regime. If we abide by the Qur'an, all of us should mobilize to kill." ”
QuickOverview.com - Mitt Romney
“The bill, filed April 28, 2005, sought to reinstate the death penalty in cases that include terrorism, the assassination of law enforcement officials and multiple killings. Romney's legislation required the presence of scientific evidence such as DNA to sentence someone to death and a tougher standard of "no doubt" of guilt for juries to sentence defendants. This differs from the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard used in traditional criminal cases. The legislation called for a pool of certified capital case lawyers to ensure proper representation for the accused and allowed jurors who do not personally support the death penalty to serve in the guilt phase of the trial.
“The Massachusetts House of Representatives defeated the bill 99-53.”
Keeping Americans Safe at Home and Abroad
We must strengthen our military by increasing the size of our military by 100,000 troops and dedicating at least four percent of our gross domestic product to defense. We must transform our domestic civilian international efforts to meet a new generation of global challenges and ensure that our intelligence and law enforcement efforts are able to address threats before they reach our shores.
CHALLENGE: After President George H.W. Bush left office, in 1993, the Clinton Administration began to dismantle the military, taking advantage of what has been called a "peace dividend" from the end of the Cold War. We took the dividend, but we did not get the peace.
Meanwhile, we lost about 500,000 military personnel and about $50 billion a year in military spending. The U.S. Army lost four active divisions and two reserve divisions. The U.S. Navy lost almost 80 ships. The U.S. Air Force saw its active personnel decrease by 30 percent. The Marines' personnel dropped by 22,000.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "They took the dividend, but didn't get the peace. It seems that we had come to believe that war and threats and evil men were gone forever. As Charles Krauthammer observed, we took a 'holiday from history.'" (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At The George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Library, 4/10/2007)
CHALLENGE: In our civilian agencies, a more pervasive problem exists: bureaucratic inaction. Today, there is no unity among our international nonmilitary resources. There is no clear leadership and no clear line of authority. Too often, we have to struggle to integrate our nonmilitary instruments into coherent, timely, and effective operations.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "We removed barriers to unify efforts across the services. This included establishing 'joint commands' with individual commanders fully responsible for their geographic region...
Our non military resources enjoy no such jointness, no such clear leadership, no such clear lines of authority and responsibility. Too often we struggle to integrate our military and civilian instruments of national power into coherent, timely and effective operations." (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At The George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Library, 4/10/2007)
CHALLENGE: During the Clinton Administration, our intelligence community was critically weakened. The CIA workforce was slashed by almost 20% and recruitment was reduced dramatically, undermining effective human intelligence. Unfortunately, Washington's response has focused on creating a new, expanded and duplicative bureaucracy in the Directorate of National intelligence.
The Romney Plan: A Stronger military. We must increase the size of our military by 100,000 troops. In addition, we should increase to at least four percent of our gross domestic product to defense. This kind of investment will make up for critical gaps in the modernization of our equipment, personnel and health care efforts. However, as we invest in our military, we must ensure that funds are used to address critical needs of the men and women of our Armed Forces, not political or contractor interests.
- Transform And Strengthen Our Domestic Civilian International Efforts To Meet A New Generation Of Challenges. Building on the Goldwater-Nichols military reforms of the 1980s, we need to ensure that our civilian instruments of national power have the ability to build joint efforts among our civilian agencies and empower Regional Deputies with clear lines of authority, sufficient budgets and the responsibility to develop and execute regional plans and strategies. We must also constantly challenge bureaucratic "group think" and revitalize our national security structures so we have the capabilities needed to meet 21st century challenges.
- Strengthen Strategic Planning. Many of our civilian national security and foreign policy structures were created decades ago. Today we need strengthened capabilities to strategically integrate all elements of national power. National Security Council staff must be empowered and accountable for reaching out to divergent viewpoints and challenging policies and proposals.
- Protect The Homeland. While there has been much emphasis on protecting facilities and responding to attacks, a key priority must be prevention. Today, protecting the homeland must begin far from home. intelligence and law enforcement efforts able to address threats before they reach our shores must be a priority for U.S. and international action. This will demand new U.S. capabilities, stronger international alliances and integration of our federal actions with international, state and local efforts.
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "We need to increase our investment in national defense. This means adding at least 100,000 troops and making a long-overdue investment in equipment, armament, weapons systems, and strategic defense. We are going to need at least an additional $30-$40 billion annually over the next several years to modernize our military, fill gaps in troop levels, ease the strain on our National Guard and Reserves, and support our wounded soldiers. The next president should commit to spending a minimum of four percent of GDP on national defense." (Governor Mitt Romney, “Rising To A New Generation Of Global Challenges,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007)
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "We need to fundamentally change the cultures of our civilian agencies and create dynamic, flexible, and task-based approaches that focus on results rather than bureaucracy. ... For every region, one civilian leader should have authority over and responsibility for all the relevant agencies and departments, similar to the single military commander who heads U.S. Central Command." (Governor Mitt Romney, "Rising To A New Generation Of Global Challenges," Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007)
GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "The key to effective homeland security, in my view, is intelligence, finding the attackers before they attack, gathering and analyzing tips, monitoring suspects, wiretapping, surveillance, all of the tools associated with intelligence work. It's aided measurably by the Patriot Act, perhaps our most effective new tool. It is also dependent on effective delineations of responsibilities between and among federal agencies, across federal and state lines and state and local lines." (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At The National Press Club, 7/14/2004)
Issues
Governor Mitt Romney and Counterterrorism
Key Speeches
2007
- 01-23-07; Excerpts from Governor Mitt Romney's Remarks at the Seventh Annual Herzliya Conference
2005
- 09-07-2005; Homeland Security: Status of Federal, State, and Local Efforts
2006
- 09-05-2006; ROMNEY DENOUNCES KHATAMI VISIT TO HARVARD, Declines to provide escort, or offer state support for trip
- During Khatami’s presidency, Iran refused to hand over the Iranian intelligence officials who were responsible for the attack on the Khobar Towers that killed 19 U.S. military personnel.
2004
- 05-24-2004; Grading Progress on Homeland Security: Before and After 9/11
- 05-04-2004; Lessons Learned from Security at Past Olympic Games
2003
- 05-15-2003; INVESTING IN HOMELAND SECURITY: CHALLENGES FACING STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
- 06-17-2003; “First Responders: How States, Localities and the Federal Government Can Strengthen Their Partnership to Make America Safer”
Transcripts of Governor Mitt Romney Interviews Discussing Terrorism
Hardball with Chris Mathews August 10
Sub Categories
- National Defense
- Peace Through Strength
- Terror, Terrorism, Counterterrorism
- War
- War On Terror
- Veterans
External Links
- http://sanity.blog-city.com/read/terrorism.htm
Quotes from Governor Mitt Romney on Terrorism
2003
- "I support our troops overseas and recognize that families across Massachusetts are making sacrifices by having their loved ones away defending our nation. We don’t want them to also worry about paying their bills. This will help ease that burden for state employees."
- “Through their service, National Guard and Reservists play an important role in our efforts to advance democracy, peace and freedom across our nation and around the world. This week, we ask employers to recognize their sacrifice and commitment.”
2004
- “A key part of our homeland security efforts rests on the state’s ability to collect and analyze information on potential threats. By putting more money into intelligence gathering, we’ll give the State Police the tools they need to be more effective.”
- "The threat of modern terrorism poses new challenges for law enforcement across Massachusetts and around the nation. These new homeland security funds will allow Bay State communities to work as a coordinated force to collect, analyze and distribute critical terrorism related intelligence and act when necessary."
- “We want to reinforce the message that an informed, vigilant public is the best defense against terrorism. The bottom line is, if you see something, say something. By working as partners, we can win the war on terror and help create a safer, more secure Commonwealth.”
- “In Massachusetts, a license to drive shouldn’t become a license to steal or commit mayhem.”
- “When it comes to homeland security, our new driver’s license is only as good as the issuance process beneath it. That’s why we are actively developing ideas and technology to thwart the potential of terrorist activity.”
2005
- “It is physically impossible to protect all targets that a terrorist might attack. The biggest lesson we learned from the September 11th tragedies is that intelligence sharing between our local, state, and federal law enforcement officials is absolutely necessary to the security of our nation and the citizens of the Commonwealth.”
- “Soldiers willingly sacrifice to protect and defend our freedoms. We can do our part by honoring their hard work, commitment and sacrifice by passing the Massachusetts GI Bill.”
- "From the day that the colonists in Massachusetts took up their arms to secure their liberty to the present day, Americans have had to fight to protect the freedom that makes our country great. The men and women who have volunteered and who are now serving our country in the global war on terror deserve our support."
- “Our men and women in uniform carry on a brave and noble tradition of service to their state and country. They sacrifice much through their service, and I’m pleased that through this package of benefits our state has properly recognized all that military families do to keep us safe.”
- "The president is right to point to an international jihadist movement aimed at the collapse of the United States. He has gone after that threat in the right way and with great energy and vigor, and I applaud the fact that he has taken it on very seriously and has not considered it just a criminal action but instead a war action, which requires a military . . . response."
- Governor Mitt Romney, Interview with James Taranto (December 2005)
- "When it comes to protecting our citizens, there is no place for political correctness. We should be doing more in terms of intelligence and counterterrorism in the state to protect ourselves from terrorists. We spend a lot of our resources thinking about response, but response can't protect us. We have to be able to prevent attacks."
- ``Well, I think it shows a complete lack of understanding of the kind of enemy that we're facing. This is not a small group of whackos in the hills that all we have to do is go find one person and it suddenly goes away. This is, instead, a movement. It's a jihadist movement. It's an extreme wing of Islam. It includes people, hundreds of thousands, potentially millions of people throughout the world that are intent on bringing down America, bringing down civilization as we know it. It's going to be a long-time fight against these people. And that's why the president has called it a war. Iraq is one front in that war. And there will be other fronts in this war, I'm sure. But the idea that somehow if we just go home and sit back quietly that it'll all go away is just pollyannish and not realistic. After all, what did we do to deserve 9/11? They attacked us also on the USS Cole, they attacked our embassies and we sat back and negotiated."
- Governor Mitt Romney, August 11, 2006 on MSNBC
Press Releases from Governor Mitt Romney on Terrorism
2003
- 11-28-2003, ROMNEY LENDS A HAND TO STATE EMPLOYEES ON MILITARY DUTY
- 11-14-2003, ROMNEY PROCLAIMS SUPPORT OF THE GUARD AND RESERVE WEEK
2004
- 10-20-2004, ROMNEY UNVEILS FIRST-IN-THE-NATION TAMPER-RESISTANT LICENSE
- 05-04-2004, ROMNEY LAUNCHES ANTI-TERROR INITIATIVE ON RAIL LINES
2005
- 05-11-2005, ROMNEY UNVEILS COMMONWEALTH'S ANTI-TERROR FUSION CENTER
- 05-24-2005, ROMNEY FILES 'MASSACHUSETTS GI BILL,' PUSHES FOR BETTER SOLDIER BENEFITS
- 08-26-2005, ROMNEY EXTENDS SUPPORT TO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES ON MILITARY DUTY
- 11-11-2005, ROMNEY SIGNS LEGISLATION EXPANDING MILITARY BENEFITS
External Links
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