CEDAR FALLS, Iowa—At a national security forum here today, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal revealed to Iowans his plan for how to keep Americans safe.
The forum, put on by Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security and hosted at an advertising agency, represented the latest campaign stop for Jindal, who will announce his presidential plans later this month.
Joined by a host of people seated in football field-style bleachers, Jindal answered questions posed by Dr. Arthur Herman, a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute.
Bobby Jindal signs a photo after speaking in Cedar Falls. (Photo: Leah Jessen/The Daily Signal)
Jindal also took questions sent in from Iowans.
Jindal built his responses around creating “peace through strength” and promoting American exceptionalism.
“Let’s show our allies, as well as our enemies, that we mean business,” Jindal said.
He said that America needs to show the world that it will be a reliable partner.
“We need to stand with Israel,” he said.
Answering questions on his approach to dealing with the ISIS terrorist group, Jindal plainly said that America should “take this threat seriously,” and needs to “condemn individuals by name.”
“We need a commander-in-chief that says we are going to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists that threaten us,” Jindal said.
Jindal told the crowd that the next president needs to have a “clearly articulated vision” like Ronald Reagan did.
Stating that the Constitution tells the government to protect Americans, Jindal, said: “We’ve got to invest in the military.”
He put it that the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it.
“We need to take the political handcuffs off of our military,” Jindal said.
Jindal believes that the U.S. needs to have the most advanced equipment for the military—to compete with the growing might of China.
Mudd Advertising welcomes Bobby Jindal to Cedar Falls today. (Photo: Leah Jessen/The Daily Signal)
Bringing Ebola, biological warfare and cyber attacks into topics of discussion, Jindal said threats such as these should force America to be on guard.
He said the government needs to make it “harder for others to do damage to our country.”
Jindal believes this can be done by hardening the nation’s infrastructure and communities.
