Today, Rep. Mike Gallagher joined Dagen McDowell on America’s Newsroom to discuss the Biden Administration’s strategy in Ukraine and the recent pentagon leaks to the New York Times. Watch the full interview HERE, or read highlights from the conversation below.
On Secretary Austin’s trip to Ukraine:
“I think Secretary Austin made the right call in going to Kyiv, talking directly with Zelenskyy, and really for the first time, talking as if he believes Ukrainians can win. I think that is the right signal to send to our allies. It’s also right to send the signal that we want Russia to be permanently hobbled by this misadventure of unprovoked aggression.”
On the importance of restocking our weapons stockpile:
“But the real ugly [thing] is that we’re running low in terms of our stockpiles. We just burned through seven years worth of javelins. And that’s not only important as we continue to try and help the Ukrainians win in Ukraine, that’s important as we try to simultaneously defend Taiwan from aggression from the Chinese Communist Party. They’re going to need access to some of the same weapon systems. And we simply don’t have the stockpiles at present in order to backfill what we’ve spent in Ukraine.”
On the intelligence leaks:
“It’s a huge problem — the lack of operational security and the fact that we’re leaking operational details. It seems the Biden administration is trying to give themselves credit, pat themselves on the back. We had senior Pentagon officials bragging anonymously about the success of their strategy, what they’re calling integrated deterrence, to the Washington Post. That’s incredibly counterproductive. It also ignores the fact that the war is still ongoing. Thousands of people are losing their lives, and for the Pentagon, or the intelligence community, or anyone to spike the football and pat ourselves on the back, I think is terrible, terrible policy. So they have to get a handle on these leaks.”
