New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called for a more aggressive approach to national security during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.
Christie wants to give the National Security Agency greater power to collect metadata and strengthen the government’s ability to interrogate those who might be involved in terrorist activities.
The governor highlighted his experience as a U.S. attorney for New Jersey in the aftermath of Sept. 11 as he called for renewed emphasis on homeland security in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks. Christie called the Islamic State a “cult of evil” and said that “terrorism is not theoretical to me.”
“We have a president who I believe no longer listens,” Christie said. “When I look back on this presidency, I think it will be marked by one phrase more than anything else: Often wrong, but never in doubt. That’s a dangerous thing to have in the president of the United States.”
Christie, who ranks sixth in the Washington Examiner‘s GOP presidential power rankings, has sparred routinely with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on the campaign trail and on the debate stage about security and privacy. Paul told CBS on Sunday that he thinks increasing the power of the NSA is misguided.
“We still have the phone collection program,” Paul told CBS. “And realize that in France they have bulk collection or surveillance of their citizens a thousand-fold greater than what we have, with very little privacy protections. They still didn’t know anything.”
Christie hit back against Paul on Tuesday. The governor said that 11 days after the Paris attacks his argument against Paul is “significantly more acute.”
“It’s easy to theorize and debate in some subcommittee in the basement of the Capitol when you’ve never been responsible for implementing those policies or making those decisions,” Christie said. “I made these decisions. I’ve used the Patriot Act. I’ve seen the indispensable role that intelligence plays in preventing attacks on the American homeland. The Congress and the president made a grave mistake, not only in restricting the NSA’s ability to do their work, but also at the same time demoralizing the spirit and degrading the conduct of America’s intelligence officers and law enforcement officers.”
Terrorism has become GOP primary voters’ top concern, meaning the stakes of the Christie-Paul debate on security and privacy will be even higher as the early nominating contests approach.
