WASHINGTON — Though he doesn’t deal with terrorism as governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker said it's an issue he thinks about “day in and day out.”
Amid threats from the Islamic State, Walker also jumped into the debate over the Patriot Act and NSA data gathering, as well as the pending U.S.-led international nuclear deal with Iran.
“I believe we should be reinstating the Patriot Act,” Walker told TheBlaze Saturday. “I think it’s very clear, as I talked about tonight, that the threat of ISIS and other forms of radical Islamic terrorism mean we need to have tools that are legal and constitutional and I believe reauthorizing the Patriot Act would allow us to do that.”
Scott Walker (Image source: AP/Kamil Krzaczynski, File)
Walker is a likely Republican presidential candidate. Last month, GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky filibustered the renewal of the Patriot Act amid debate over the NSA program.
Speaking to the Road to Majority Conference in Washington Saturday night, Walker fired up the crowd considerably talking about President Barack Obama’s record on national security as he focused on the Islamic State, Syria's chemical weapons and the pending nuclear deal with Iran.
“Iran is not a place we can do business with,” he told the crowd to roaring applause.
He told reporters after the remarks that if Obama enters into a bad nuclear deal with Iran, as president he would make changes.
Walker also recalled Obama once characterizing climate change as the most serious national security issue facing the United States.
"We’ve got a president who earlier this year at the graduation ceremony of the Coast Guard, he stood up and actually told the graduates that the number-one threat to military in the world today is global warming. I’ve got a message for you Mr. President: The number-one threat to the military, the number-one threat to America, the number-one threat to the world is radical Islamic terrorism," Walker said, getting a standing ovation.
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