In one week we learned incontrovertible evidence of an attack on America from a foreign adversary and we suffered a brutal attack from within. The harsh truths visited upon our country and the trauma inflicted on students and families in Florida demand action.
Congress must move to address the staggering vulnerabilities in our national security highlighted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian nationals for waging information warfare against us and by the murder of 17 students and adults in Parkland, Fla., by a domestic terrorist.
On Friday, Mueller filed a 37-page indictment detailing a strategic effort by Russians to undermine Americans’ confidence in our democratic institutions and to throw support to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The multi-year effort described in the indictment paints a disturbing picture of our susceptibility to such information campaigns – the ease with which social media platforms can spread false information to vast audiences and our own willingness to believe the absolute worst about one another.
Our response should come in two forms: first, punitive action against Russia for the assault on our country; and second, a comprehensive strategy to prevent Russian interference in any future election. It is clear Russia intends to deploy its trolls, spies and cyber units against us, and we need to harness a whole-of-government response to defeat Russia in this vital effort.
The first part should be simple – in 2017 Congress passed, with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, leveling sanctions against Russia, among others. President Trump decided in January 2018 not to impose these sanctions, but Congress can force the administration to act.
As for defeating Russia’s ongoing and future attempts to disrupt our elections, Congress can similarly compel the administration to defend America. Executing a comprehensive strategy against Russia requires leadership from the executive branch. If President Trump does not rally to this occasion, there should be strong bipartisan support for legislation directing executive agencies to attack Russia’s cyber capabilities, harden domestic targets against Russian interference and increase sanctions against Russian actors.
Congress must find similar resolve to take on the sickness in our society manifested most recently in the act of domestic terrorism against the students, faculty and families of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14. We must puncture the toxicity that shrouds gun-control discussions to connect with the sentiments of most citizens, including the vast majority of gun owners, who are in favor of pragmatic actions to keep weapons out of the hands of dangerous individuals.
When we sit down and engage people directly, we find much greater agreement on the need for a common-sense approach to gun control.
In the months before starting at West Point, I was fortunate to participate in a comprehensive course on operating firearms taught by employees of a New Hampshire-based gun manufacturer. They were consummate professionals, in many cases veterans of the U.S. military, and they instilled in me a deep and abiding respect for the terrible violence that guns can unleash.
Such appreciation for the dangers posed by firearms is representative of the beliefs of most gun owners and provides clear space for actions to reduce the proliferation of mass violence being inflicted on our communities. There is a path where we neither demonize law-abiding gun owners nor avoid meaningful action on gun control, but rather bring parties together to enact proposals that have widespread, bipartisan support, such as strengthening the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, denying firearms to individuals on terrorist watch lists and banning accessories, such as bump stocks, that enable weapons to function as fully automatic rifles.
There is no single gun-control proposal that can guarantee against future mass shootings, but there are any number of actions that would reduce the probability of mass casualty events. Forcing domestic terrorists to reload more frequently by restricting access to high-volume magazines, for example, would create critical windows for individuals to escape or confront the attacker.
America is at her best when we are working toward solving problems. President Trump should lead on both countering Russia and enacting common-sense gun control legislation. But if he fails to step up, or even in the face of presidential opposition, Congress can and must act. Our democracy depends upon elected officials of differing ideologies working together to arrive at compromises that advance the national interest.
During the Civil War, Secretary of State William Seward said, “there was always just enough virtue in the republic to save it; sometimes none to spare, but still enough to meet the emergency.” It is time for Congress to show this proposition remains true today.
(Dan Vallone is a West Point graduate who served six years on active duty as an infantry officer. He lives in Concord.)