The world remains a dangerous place, and without the brave and dedicated warriors in our military defending us, we could easily face a disastrous future.

As Winston Churchill has said:

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

In a world of drones, nuclear weapons, hostile ideologies and marginally rational regimes like North Korea and Iran, our national defense is as it should be – at the top of the list of our national priorities.

And in the hierarchy of military priorities, good intelligence is particularly vital.

This makes the disclosures of sensitive information by the Whitehouse all the more disturbing.  Our intelligence capabilities depend on our being trusted by those who help us.  If we blow their cover, like the Pakistani doctor now in prison, our allies are humiliated, our future allies evaporate, and our ability to collect intelligence is mortally wounded.

My point is not simply to criticize the president.  Mr. Obama might accuse George W Bush of grandstanding too, and other presidents may also have taken political advantage of the military.  No matter who does it, it should stop.

This video – http://www.youtube.com/v/X-Xfti7qtT0 – is powerful testimony and well worth watching.

No politician should use our military as a political prop. I believe that Americans should be deeply offended by the cavalier way that Mr. Obama has used the success of our military to political advantage by leaking details of our secret operations.  Our soldiers do not give their lives for political advantage, but to fulfill their oaths to our nation.

Let us commit ourselves as voters to making it clear that this kind of grandstanding is unacceptable, now and in the future.

May God bless our troops.