Defense
On her first trip overseas, Palin visited Alaskan troops deployed to Iraq; told how much they missed hunting and fishing, she signed a law in June 2008 that grants free hunting, trapping and fishing licenses to members of the Alaska National Guard and reserve.
As Governor of Alaska, Palin criticized proposed Obama administration cuts to missile defense programs, in response to North Korea's April 5, 2009 rocket test. In May 2009, North Korea conducted a series of short-range missile tests. Military experts believe a long-range missile could reach Alaska, where part of the United States' missile defense system is located. Palin called for the full restoration of Missile Defense Agency funding "to guarantee our protective measures remain the best in the world." The Defense Department had recommended not moving forward with a planned expansion of the missile defense system at Fort Greely in that year's budget. Palin disagreed: "Fort Greely plays a crucial role in the nation's security."
In a September 23, 2009, speech in Hong Kong, Palin said that "we need to maintain a strong defense" even in our current economic difficulties. She expressed her opposition to ending production of the F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft and C-17 cargo aircraft.
Read more about this topic: Political Positions Of Sarah Palin
Famous quotes containing the word defense:
“... most Southerners of my parents’ era were raised to feel that it wasn’t respectable to be rich. We felt that all patriotic Southerners had lost everything in defense of the South, and sufficient time hadn’t elapsed for respectable rebuilding of financial security in a war- impoverished region.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 1 (1962)
“Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, every where.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The aims of life are the best defense against death.”
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)