[Txsleuth]

You know the saying--"keep your friends close, but your enemies, closer"---

I think that what happened after the "wall came down", we got too complacent and too trusting that the physical wall also symbolized a political/sovreign wall for the Russians...

I think we need to go back to thinking of them in the "keep your enemies, closer", state of policital think!

[rodguy911]

Post of the day. You may be getting the ribbon later. The "peace dividend" may wind up being our downfall. We should never have cut back the military budget. I am a follower of Dr. Milton Friedman and one of the sole purposes of govt. is to provide defense for the nation. That budget should never have gone down at all. Big mistake. Great post.Sorry for the rant but it drives me nuts.

[snugs]

Absolutely I am always reminded of a conversation I had with my then Sales Director at our Christmas lunch in the year the wall came down. He said IHHO we had as much to fear for our national security as before if not more whilst we can rejoice with what had happened for the people freed we must not get complacent that this is the end of the danger for us. He was a lovely man, well read and well traveled and I always respected his judgment on things and consequently have always taken this warning to heart.

[Morgan in Denver]

Just remember to add, one of the topics of the day was the "peace dividend" that Democrats wanted to spend on social programs. The Democrats controlled the US House and Senate, and were telling us we did not need human intelligence because our satellites would provide everything we needed to know, and what was happening around the world. Bush Sr. didn't respond forcefully and Clinton certainly had no backbone to support either our military or intelligence community. It was after 1994 when the Republicans took over the House and Senate that funds started increasing for military and intelligence support. But, years of neglect left the DOD, State and other agencies still lagging.