I had a recent interesting conversation with a Shipmate and coincidentally a Obama Supporter. We were doing are typical diatribe on the politics of Obama vs McCain and came to the realization the best way to clean up this whole election process for President is to subject the potential candidates to background checks as required by the military. They should be done in the same manner and to the level based on what information they would have access too. Since the President is the senior person in the chain for the use of Nuclear Weapons, he or she would be subject to the PRP program and furthermore have to pass for a SSI clearance which is the same for the very people that protect the President.Photo AP: Navy Lt. Cmdr. Keith Davids carries the "Football," foreground, containing nuclear codes.
(Source Wikipedia) Personnel Reliability Program (PRP) is a United States Department of Defense psychological evaluation program, designed to permit only the most trustworthy individuals to have access to nuclear weapons.
1. The Department of Defense shall support the national security of
the United States by maintaining an effective nuclear deterrent while protecting the public health, safety, and environment. For that reason, nuclear-weapons require special consideration because of their policy implications and military importance, their destructive power, and the political consequences of an accident or an unauthorized act. The safety, security, control, and effectiveness of nuclear weapons are of paramount importance to the security of the United States.
2. Nuclear weapons shall not be subject to loss, theft, sabotage, unauthorized use, unauthorized destruction, unauthorized disablement, jettison, or accidental damage.
3. Only those personnel who have demonstrated the highest degree of individual reliability for allegiance, trustworthiness, conduct, behavior, and responsibility shall be allowed to perform duties associated with nuclear weapons, and they shall be continuously evaluated for adherence to PRP standards.
The PRP program evaluates many aspects of the individuals work life and home life. Any disruption of these, or severe deviation from an established norm would be cause to deny access. The denial might be temporary or permanent.
Now we can discern from this that Obama would have problems passing SSI Background checks and PRP standards. The possible affiliations to the corrupt individuals and accusations you see in the news would create serious road blocks. All these issues would have be investigated and determined before granting a clearance and admission to the PRP program. Obama's admitted use of cocaine would be a possible disqualifier alone. Likewise for our current President George W. Bush would have some issues as well with a DUI arrest and admitted abuse of Alcohol.
Some of you may remember the application for your background checks. I remember specifically being required to list 10 friends as references. Then Defense Investigator Services interviewed those individuals and asked them who else I knew, so they could dig deeper and get a accurate character reference. I ask again could our current politicians and presidential Candidates pass such scrutiny?
But the Constitution only states these basic requirements:
Be a natural-born citizen of the United States
Be at least thirty-five years old
Have been a permanent resident in the United States for at least fourteen years.
Maybe it would have been different if the Framers had any notion of the Presidential responsibility for the stewardship of Nuclear weapons.
So we can debate the issues if you want, but at the end of the day, Before you vote, is your Candidate truly qualified and responsible. Do they meet the minimum requirements that you or I would have to have for access to classified information and Nuclear assets. Just simple questions to ask your self before voting for the next Commander and Chief of the United States.
Eric
Update 13OCT08: Barack Obama Couldn’t Pass a Routine Background Investigation
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2 comments:
Now we can agree. Change the standards, change the candidates.
I support Obama because he meets the "current" standards for Presidency.
If the yardstick, (PRP Standards) that measures those who are working with the Nuclear forces in deployed submarines, Command and Control positions, and Maintenance positions were used to truly measure the Members of our Executive and Legislative branches;
I am afraid that they (those who "represent us") would all fall terribly short causing Port and Starboard watches for all qualified personnel until they can meet standards.
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