To the Editor:

Article 11, section 2 of the Constitution says “The President shall be the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States.” 

The safety and security of the country is his primary responsibility. Since the end of WWII, through the Cold War, the fall of the Soviet Union and now into the rule of Putin, Russia has been our principal adversary. From the despotic rule of Joseph Stalin to the kleptocracy/oligarchy of today’s Russia, it has always stood for one man rule and against true democracy in any form.

Every intelligence agency of our government has confirmed that Russia has attacked and is still attacking our country. The weapons in this war are cyber bots, Facebook posts, Twitter rants, hacked email accounts and now confirmed attacks on our infrastructure. “The Trump administration accused Russia on Thursday of engineering a series of cyber attacks that targeted American and European nuclear power plants and water and electric systems, and could have sabotaged or shut power plants off at will,” wrote the N.Y. Times in is March 15 issue.

Let’s be clear, there is now a button on Putin’s  desk that can turn off our water, electric and cripple our internet. How long do you think it would take for this country to descend into total chaos if our smart phones were turned off? No need of nuclear bombs, or thousands of tanks and million man armies, just turn off our power. What could the world’s most powerful Navy do to protect us from that?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has increased its spending on our cyber defense and issued the above statement as a warning. Real progress in this cyber war must come from the Commander in Chief, and so far nothing. When the State Department refused to spend the $80 million to counter Russian propaganda, the President  was pleased. When the Secretary of State strongly criticized the Putin government for using a chemical weapon to attempt to kill a Russian spy, he was fired within 24 hours.

Donald Trump has vaguely criticized the Russian government but he has  never said an unkind word about Vladimir Putin. He fawned over Putin when he put on his Miss America pageant in Moscow. During the campaign, he sent his business associates to try to contact Putin so he could build “Trump Moscow.” He has admired Putin’s strong leadership and his disdain for a free press. He has spoken glowingly about Putin over 80 times from through Feb. 16 2017, and he continues to do so to this day.

The head of the U.S.’s cyber operations recently said the country’s response to Russia’s hacking provocations have “not changed the calculus or the behavior” of the Russians and that “they have not paid a price.” Only the President can give the order to counter this attack, and he has not. Our Commander in Chief cannot defend us in a cyber war when he seems blinded by his fondness for the leader of the enemy forces.

Louis Vitale

Franklin