Congressman Tom Marino Talks Iran with Secure Freedom Radio.

Representative Tom Marino of the 10th District of Pennsylvania is the lead guest in today’s Secure Freedom Radio. He is a member of the House Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security, and Judiciary Committees. Today, he speaks as to why he votes ‘no’ on the Iran Deal and also explains why some of his colleagues on the other side of the aisle are doing just the same. Click here for the audio version.

FG: Welcome to Secure Freedom Radio. This is Frank Gaffney, your host and guide for what I think of as an intelligence briefing on the war for the free world. It is a distinct privilege and real pleasure to have with us a man who is bringing a lot of intelligence to bear on these questions of national security, foreign policy, and homelands security. In fact, he has responsibilities in basically all of these areas as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He serves in fact as its Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee for Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats. He is also a member of the Homeland Security Committee and the Committee on the judiciary, a man of many parts. He is Congressman Tom Marino. He represents with great distinction the people of the tenth district of Pennsylvania and is always welcome here. Congressman, I know we are catching you on a district work period, also known as a recess I guess in some quarters. Welcome, thank you for taking the time to join us.

TM: It’s my pleasure. Let me add that I also am Vice President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the treaty organization where we meet six times a year around the world, and I talk with the other 27 NATO parliamentarians on anything from to the military to policy.

FG: We could spend the whole time talking about your credentials, but let’s talk a little bit about what you’re doing and what you’re concerned about in the Congress. I guess maybe to start with, Iran. You were very, very active in cross-examining the administration’s team, notably Secretary of State Kerry, when they appeared before the Foreign Affairs Committee. What was your takeaway, Congressman, with regard to this Iran deal? Did they allay any of the concerns you previously had expressed?

TM: No, what they did was certainly reinforce the fact that this is a giveaway. Obama and Kerry cannot answer the important questions concerning what’s going to happen. Is this going to make America and American citizens safer? They stick to a script, and this administration either does not know anything about foreign policy or doesn’t care about foreign policy.

FG: Or worse, it seems to be kind of realigning our foreign policy. Some have gone so far as to call this deal a kind of new alliance with Iran where we’re providing them with, you know, billions of dollars and aligning ourselves with empowering and improving their nuclear program and even protecting it. These are indeed troubling developments to say the least.

TM: Well, first of all, Obama makes Chamberlain look like Rambo and when it gets down to it, I question his approach. I think he is saying to the rest of the world, America isn’t as great as we think we are, and if we all hold hands and sing Kumbaya everything will be fine. People though may not realize the damage that this president has caused this country, and they will not realize it until the next couple of years, until the next president, whoever it is going to be, is going to have their hands full.

FG: For sure. And may in fact face a nuclear armed Iran much as we now face a nuclear armed North Korea after a previous democratic president tried to negotiate with them. Congressman, one of the things I was hearing this morning, one of your colleagues, Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, making the claim that he’s persuaded that the president has in fact successfully closed off all of the routes for Iran to get a nuclear weapon. At least for the decade or more that this deal covers. Is that your estimation? Is that something that stands up to scrutiny as you see it?

TM: No it doesn’t. He’s just following rank. I’ve discussed with several of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle about how they feel, and they say personally that they hate this but they have to follow rank and support the president. I was just in France and met with advisors in Europe who were part of this, and many of them do not like this deal. As a matter of fact, they’re very concerned about it. But the president has looked to countries like Germany and France who have a stake in this because this all goes back to Russia really, Russia and China want to see, they will support anything that hinders the United States and even could pose a danger to U.S. power. So Germany is supporting this because they need the gas from Russia. France wants to sell Iran weapons, and so does Russia. So these are strange bedfellows in this situation, but of all things I think about answering this because it doesn’t have an answer. There is not one moment of discussion with Iran concerning their ability to continue developing nuclear energy, about the U.S. prisoners that are in their custody. The president’s going to trade Berghdal for five terrorists, then doesn’t take the steps to address the current situation? That should say it all.

FG: It’s obscene really, but let me ask about one other aspect, and again we’re talking with Congressman Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, including serving on its Subcommittee on Cyber Security and Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. And Congressman, one place where there is a real nexus between concerns we both have with this Iran deal and that other portfolio of yours, is that the Iranians have made no secret of their desire to bring about a world without America and seemingly have put in place just about all of the capabilities they need to attack our electric grid. In fact, one of your other colleagues, Congressman Trent Franks, has pointed out that in a doctrinal document recently, they have refereed to the use of an electromagnetic pulse in more than twenty different places. What is your reading on that vulnerability and the possibility that the Iranians may be seeking to exploit it?

TM: I have no doubt about it. Trent is the guy that I talk to frequently about this. He knows what’s going on, and if you look just over the past couple of years concerning EMP, it first started out as just some type of theory. And now, there are bonafide, serious scientists taking a look at this and saying this is a real possibility. Look what we’ve done just in the United States in the past 239 years of what we’ve developed. And in the last ten years look at the electronics age, how we’ve come to where we’re at today, and within the next twenty years a leading magazine says we’re just going to be blown away by what we see being developed not only for peaceful use but also for not so peaceful use. So, look if we can put a man on the moon and we can transplant a heart someone can come up with an idea of how to shut down our electric gird, and the information that I have gleaned form reading this is a small nuclear weapon could be sent off a ship or off our east coast and just because of the natural makeup of the atmosphere, nuclear weapons, you know, they could shut down our electrical grid for as much as a year. And people don’t understand what that is; just think what it’s like. I’m sure everyone has seen a thunderstorm or a lightening storm and its hit an electric pole or an energy area that sends electricity out to place like where I live in the country, and that being down for a year. The seriousness of it. There’s no heat, no food. This could be a real catastrophe, and I think the Iranians will do everything they possibly can to come up with some way to try and destroy the United States.

FG: Let me ask you very quickly, and we’ve only got about a minute left, Congressman Tom Marino. Yesterday the president announced that he was going to try further restricting our use of coal. Coal, as you know, is one of the most resilient components of our electric grid. Is this advisable at a time when we’re already worried about its vulnerability?

TM: Once again, the president has had no hardworking experience in his life. He’s been kept by the government his entire life, but there are coal mines in my district. There are electric power plants that generate electricity with coal, and it’s such a vital part of our economy. And there’s another thing, one scientist just recently said, he brought up the fact that if North America stopped using all fossil fuels it would have virtually no effect on the environment because of what China, India, Pakistan, places like that do. And let’s look at it from an economic standpoint. Coal in the United States, actually coal mining, creates more jobs and revenue than the automobile-manufacturing segment in this country.

FG: An impressive point that seems to be overlooked by the president, I think. Congressman Tom Marino, thank you very much for your service in all of these areas: the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Homeland Security Committee, and the Judiciary. I hope we’ll have a chance to take with you more about what’s going in the Judiciary in the future but in the meantime keep up your great work there, and come back to us soon. Thank you, sir.