Letter to the Editor / RUSSIA And The National Security Crisis

Roger C. Kostmayer

It’s not 1775 but we could use Paul Revere to help us focus on a serious attack (“the Russians are coming!”) instead of on the daily distracting tweets from our President.  In the past, when attacked by foreign enemies, Americans came together, rose to the challenge and put their lives, fortunes and sacred honor on the line. This was true before we were a country, when we were young and vulnerable on the world stage, and when we were attacked at Pearl Harbor in 1941.  These prompt and unified reactions enabled our nation to survive and prosper.

Today, our country has been attacked again by a foreign enemy (described as the “evil empire” by a former Republican president) in a way that is a greater but more subtle threat to our democracy.  Yet this time the national response is confusion, complacency, divisiveness and partisan self-interest.  In the minds of many, because Russia didn’t parachute black ops forces onto American soil (when they invaded and stole our files, seduced traitors and corrupted our democratic foundation) it somehow obscures the essential fact that a hostile cyber power is successfully weakening us.

No amount of lies and cynical distractions should be allowed to divert the American people and their public servants from understanding and eliminating this immediate threat.  Why is this important?  Because if we don’t, it won’t make any difference what ideology or party you like or for whom you voted, back when you could vote.