by Rhoda Wilson, Expose News:
A Washington, D.C.-based think tank is warning that while China and others are increasing their food stockpile, the US government is turning a blind eye to this integral aspect of national security.
“The US government has not put a major priority on food security or preparedness,” Tommy Waller, president and CEO of the Centre for Security Policy, warned. “Under the Biden administration, the USDA and FEMA have transitioned from a culture of preparedness to priorities of diversity, equity and inclusion – DEI – and climate change.”
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The following is the article ‘DC-based think tank warns US gov’t failing to prioritize food security while China ramps up efforts’ published by LifeSite News.
The United States government and the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”) see “national security” in two very different ways – and that includes food security.
Historically, the CCP has been known to weaponise its food supply, which it has done against millions of its own citizens, resulting in mass starvation and suffering. But today, it appears the communist government is stockpiling food, indeed, making it a major national security priority for its people. Why?
Tommy Waller, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Centre for Security Policy, says most Americans do not understand that “food security is national security.” And that currently, the safety of American citizens is, indeed, being jeopardised by the US government. The retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, in an interview with WND, explained that “at the federal level, our nation has catastrophically failed to prioritise food security while all of our adversaries, both hostile nations and globalists, have had their crosshairs on food for quite a while.”
For example, Waller said, in stark contrast to “having no problem starving its own people,” the Chinese government has an entire agency called the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration. It is largely responsible for laws and regulations that oversee grain and material reserves of the East Asian country.
In statistics often touted by members of the Chinese regime, Waller said, “China’s grain inventories are so abundant that the stock-to-use ratio is well above the international grain security threshold.”
“The US government has not put a major priority on food security or preparedness,” Waller warned. In contrast to the Chinese regime’s prioritising strategic reserves of food, he told WND, “Under the Biden administration, the USDA and FEMA have transitioned from a culture of preparedness to priorities of diversity, equity and inclusion – DEI – and climate change.”
What’s more, he said, the Biden administration has incentivised many farmers to reprioritise the use of their land away from cultivating it for food production. Through the Conservation Reserve Programme, he explained, “farmers are getting paid more to get their land into the programme as opposed to farming it.” While he conceded there are some benefits to the programme, he also pointed out that farmers are producing less food as a result, and this diminishes America’s food security.
“Less than two per cent of our population produces food for everybody else in this country,” Waller noted. “The average American isn’t prepared to go without food for any duration, so you can see the importance of keeping our farmers farming.”
“Take away farming and you take away food,” he said starkly while warning that the average person is extremely unprepared for shortages of food. “They just take it for granted, and it’s understandable because we’ve always had it very easy in this country,” Waller said, but warning about one scenario in which Americans could find themselves hungry right away: “That number one scenario is a loss of electricity caused by widespread electric grid blackouts.”
Waller’s interest in food security, he said, steadily grew due to his work to secure America’s electric grid. “All of the infrastructure we have is dependent upon electricity,” he said. “When considering the second and third order effects of electric grid outages, you can see how food becomes a very significant item of importance.”
“Most Americans don’t think twice about paying for home insurance, automobile insurance, life insurance, but for whatever reason, they don’t think about food insurance,” Waller told WND. “They don’t think about stocking up.”
While the federal government may be failing to stress the importance of preparedness, Waller attests that food security “is the one area where individual people and their communities could actually enhance national security,” adding that the lack of preparedness is “a fixable problem, if we are smart about our policies and more.”
In a 41-page report, the Centre for Security Policy has published recommendations to bolster food security at the federal, state, local and individual levels. With little action at the federal level, he said, it is important for Americans to do what they can at the state and local, as well as individual levels.
For example, the Centre, which has a 20-year track record of helping state governments shape policies to bolster national security, is actively supporting numerous lawmakers seeking to outlaw agricultural land from being owned by foreign adversaries. The security-oriented non-profit also promotes the concept of community-supported agriculture and the importance of citizens purchasing their food from local farmers. “By helping sustain their work,” Waller told WND, “it’s going to create more resilience at the community level.”
“Everything the Centre for Security Policy does is for the public interest,” Waller said. “We exist to provide uncompromised analysis, unflinching leadership and unconventional solutions to keep Americans safer,” he explained, adding that “there are no corporations behind what we are doing.” He shared that CSP can also “provide threat briefings at the county level for emergency managers and law enforcement”.
