Hillary Clinton’s running mate hasn’t always been on the side of the Obama administration on matters of defense and national security, even though the Virginia Democrat was also on Obama’s short list for veep.
Sen. Tim Kaine represents a state with one of the largest Navy bases in Norfolk and is also an advocate of shipbuilding because of the industry based in Virginia. He is a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, and as a result, has weighed in on national security around the world. Here’s where the potential second-in-command has come down on issues he could be dealing with under a Clinton administration.
Authorization for the Use of Military Force
Kaine has questioned the Obama administration’s legal grounds for carrying out the fight against the Islamic State under previous war authorizations, and has been a vocal advocate for passing a new Islamic State-specific authorization for the use of military force.
He introduced two amendments to the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization act that would have created a new Islamic State-specific AUMF and repealed the 2001 AUMF, which covered the war on terrorism and is the administration’s justification for current strikes. Neither were considered.
“Nearly two years into an executive war against ISIL, the unwillingness of this Congress to authorize the war not only shows a lack of resolve, it sets a dangerous precedent,” Kaine said. “It’s not hard to imagine a future president using this inaction to justify the hasty and unpredictable initiation of military action against new enemies on new fronts without the permission of Congress.”
Cybersecurity
Kaine has said that the government needs to be more vocal about its response to cyber attacks to increase the confidence of civilians. In a hearing, Kaine questioned an official on why he could share specifics about the attacks the U.S. has been subject to, but could not describe our response outside of a classified setting.
“If they’re only hearing publicly about the attacks we’re subject to rather than what we’re doing maybe they would feel pretty anxious about this? They might feel like their government isn’t really doing anything, that they’re not really responding. Of course we are, but if you don’t share it, what confidence are you giving your citizens that you’re on top of it?” Kaine said during a speech in May.
No Fly, No Buy
Kaine is a supporter of a bill that would prevent those on the no-fly list from purchasing firearms.
“This body has been impotent, weak, silent and a bystander to this carnage of gun violence that is going on in the United States,” Kaine said during a press conference last month. “There will be no meaningful gun safety reforms done in this body unless it is bipartisan. We’ve got to make progress, and to make progress we’ve got to do it in a bipartisan way.”
Immigration
Kaine has stressed that the Islamic State — not those running from its violence — is the enemy. As a result, he has urged the U.S. to lead in addressing the global humanitarian refugee crisis in Syria.
“I assert that refugees are not our enemy, ISIL is our enemy, and yet for some strange reason, in the eighteenth month of a war against ISIL, Congress has been unwilling to debate our real enemy,” he said during a Senate floor speech in January.
Ukraine
Kaine has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, and the role NATO has to protect the country from Russian aggression. He was one of several senators who sent a letter to the president earlier this month ahead of the NATO summit in Warsaw urging him to make commitment to Ukraine a key part of his conversations with members during the meeting.
“Unquestionably it is in American and European interests to see a peaceful democratic Ukraine succeed,” the letter said.
