Congress is wrong this time, just as it was wrong before 9/11. That attack wasn’t successful because the terrorists were determined. It happened because Congress (Republican majority) refused to act when the CIA, FBI and FAA recommended increased airline security in 1996. (These recommendations came after the capture of 9/11 mastermind Ramzi Yusef.) Congress balked at the cost! Refused to enact the very measures that could have prevented the attack.

Congress fails to act now. Fails to take seriously the threat to our sovereignty, as posed by Russia. Fails to use its power of the purse to respond to ongoing attacks on our infrastructure by Russian intelligence operatives identifying vulnerabilities in cyberspace.

Trust me, the threat from illegal immigrants doesn’t rise to this level. The increased manpower deployed there has  had the desired effect. Illegal crossings are down. What is not down are Russian cyber attacks

Russia is a state power with effectively unlimited resources in this area. Our own are severely limited by Congress  They’ve refused to increase the manpower needed to confront this push. In fact, they’ve ignored it for years.

Congress was warned in 2010 that this was coming and failed to act — again.

Congress wants the responsibility to wage war, or at least to finance it, but it seldom acts when the experts it has entrusted with the task issue warning.

In war, even a cold one, you must respond to your opponents’ tactical and strategic changes. If you can’t, you lose.

Jamie Beaulieu, Farmington