2016 Presidential Candidates on National Security

Hillary Clinton 

Hillary has a record of defending America and our core values. She built the toughest sanctions regime in history on Iran – twisting arms in China, Russia, and dozens of other countries – to force Iran to the negotiating table. And when pressure started working, she sent her closest aides to explore a deal that would cut off Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon.

She personally negotiated an end to Hamas rockets raining down on Israel in 2012 and worked to build stronger defense programs for Israel.

She fought to make women’s rights a priority in international relations. She stood up against sex trafficking of women and children, intervened in Saudi Arabia to stop child marriage, and led the fight for a U.N. Security Council resolution to combat sexual violence against women and children around the world that passed unanimously.

She worked to ensure ratification of the New START treaty, which will make the world safer by reducing U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to their smallest size in 50 years.

• Ensure we are stronger at home. That means investing in our infrastructure, education and innovation.
• Stick with our allies. From the Middle East and Asia to Europe and our own hemisphere, Hillary will strengthen the essential partnerships that are a unique source of America’s strength. Hillary knows that NATO is one of the best investments that America has ever made. And she’ll continue to support Israel’s ability to defend itself.
• Embrace all the tools of American power, especially diplomacy and development, to be on the front lines solving problems before they threaten us at home. Diplomacy is often the only way to avoid a conflict that could end up exacting a much greater cost.
• Preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Hillary will vigorously enforce the nuclear agreement with Iran and implement a broader strategy to confront Iran’s bad behavior in the region, particularly the threat it poses to Israel.
• Be firm but wise with our rivals. Countries like Russia and China often work against us. Hillary has gone toe-to-toe with Russia and China and many other different leaders around the world. She knows we have to be able to both stand our ground when we must, and find common ground when we can.
• Have a real plan for confronting terrorists. The threat we face from terrorism is real, urgent and knows no boundaries. Hillary has laid out a comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS by: taking out ISIS’s stronghold in Iraq and Syria, working with our allies to dismantle global terror networks, and hardening our defenses at home.

Source: hillaryclinton.com

Donald Trump

We want to achieve a stable, peaceful world with less conflict and more common ground.

I am proposing a new foreign policy focused on advancing America’s core national interests, promoting regional stability, and producing an easing of tensions in the world. This will require rethinking the failed policies of the past.

In a Trump Administration, our actions in the Middle East will be tempered by realism. The current strategy of toppling regimes, with no plan for what to do the day after, only produces power vacuums that are filled by terrorists.

Gradual reform, not sudden and radical change, should be our guiding objective in that region.

We should work with any country that shares our goal of destroying ISIS and defeating Radical Islamic terrorism, and form new friendships and partnerships based on this mission. We now have an Administration, and a former Secretary of State, who refuse to say “Radical Islamic Terrorism.”

I will ask that savings be accomplished through common sense reforms that eliminate government waste and budget gimmicks – and that protect hard-earned benefits for Americans.

Government-wide, improper government payments are estimated to exceed $135 billion per year, and the amount of unpaid taxes is estimated to be as high as $385 billion.

We can also reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy through responsible workforce attrition – that is, when employees retire, they can be replaced by a smaller number of new employees.

• Immediately after taking office, Mr. Trump will ask the generals to present a plan within 30 days to defeat and destroy ISIS.
• Mr. Trump will ask Congress to fully eliminate the defense sequester and will submit a new budget to rebuild our military as soon as he assumes office.
• Mr. Trump will build an active Army of around 540,000, as the Army’s chief of staff has said he needs.
• Mr. Trump will build a Marine Corps based on 36 battalions.
• Mr. Trump will build a Navy approaching 350 surface ships and submarines, as recommended by the bipartisan National Defense Panel.
• Mr. Trump will build an Air Force of at least 1,200 fighter aircraft.
• One of Mr. Trump’s first commands after taking office will be asking the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and all relevant federal departments, to conduct a thorough review of United States cyber defenses and identify all vulnerabilities – in our power grid, our communications systems, and all vital infrastructure.
• Invest in a serious missile defense system to meet growing threats by modernizing our Navy’s cruisers and procuring additional, modern destroyers to counter the ballistic missile threat from Iran and North Korea.
• Pay for this necessary rebuilding of our national defense by conducting a full audit of the Pentagon, eliminating incorrect payments, reducing duplicative bureaucracy, collecting unpaid taxes, and ending unwanted and unauthorized federal programs.

Source: donaldjtrump.com