RUTHFULLY YOURS

The Center for Security Policy today released its ninth National Security Scorecard evaluating the performance of members of the 111th Congress on matters of great importance to the security interests of the United States.  158 Members of the House of Representatives and 32 Senators received a score of 100% qualifying them as “Champions of National Security,” the full list of which appears below.

In an effort to advance the debate on the nation’s most vital national security issues, the Center today also launches a pre-election campaign for midterm election candidates to embrace the “Peace Through Strength Platform,” a ten-point program of national security priorities for America. The Center premieres its new web ad on the Peace Through Strength Platform today on its YouTube channel, Youtube.com/Securefreedom.

The Peace Through Strength Platform complements the 74-page National Security Scorecard as a way forward for candidates and elected officials. While the Scorecard looks back at decisive issues facing the last Congress, the Peace Through Strength Platform serves as guiding principles for the next Congress. To this end, the Center contacted candidates from both parties, including incumbents and challengers, to alert them to the score of each Member of Congress.

Watch the Center’s web ad for the Peace Through Strength Platform below.

In assessing the record of the 111th Congress, the Center has selected 12 roll call votes in the Senate and 8 roll call votes in the House of Representatives to show legislators’ positions in key foreign, defense and intelligence matters of direct relevance to America’s safety, sovereignty and freedoms.   Roll call votes were selected on the basis of their utility in revealing substantive differences on significant security policy issues.

Upon releasing the ninth National Security Scorecard, Center President Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. observed:

“The Center for Security Policy believes that the success of the American experiment fundamentally depends upon the quality of our representative government.   The public must be apprised of their representatives’ legislative records.”

“Toward that end, the Center takes pride in producing these National Security Scorecards for each congressional session as a means of educating the American people about their elected officials’ performance with respect to national security. The Scorecard also provides greater accountability for the most consequential votes of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives.  In this particular Scorecard, the Center has also sought to identify which legislators switched their votes on the fate of terrorist detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.”

Mr. Gaffney added:

“Rarely has such performance and accountability been more important than today when we face dangerous and increasingly sophisticated enemies who threaten our safety and seek the destruction of our way of life.   The Center commends those in the Senate and House who have, in the face of these threats, distinguished themselves as “Champions of National Security,” and hopes that the numbers of such legislators will grow substantially in the 112th Congress and beyond.”

2009-2010 Champions of National Security