Summary: Deputy national security adviser John Brennan tells NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press” that politicians are using national security to score political points and that he’s exasperated with partisan political football over counterterrorism professionals’ handling of failed airline bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on February 8, 2009, Aubrey Immelman reported that defense contractor KBR Inc. had been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work, even as it was under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

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Summary: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to North Korea on a mission to win the release of jailed American reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, and to ease tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear defiance. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 20th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Sunday, August 3, 2008, Aubrey Immelman took a break from campaigning and posted, as a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Part 1 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).

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Summary: One-year retrospective of the launch of Aubrey Immelman’s campaign against incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, July 15, 2008. One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the first day of his campaign, Aubrey Immelman issued his position statement on illegal immigration, one of the three core issues in his congressional campaign (the two other key issues being law enforcement and national security).

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Summary: The economic crisis has trumped bullets and bombs in the intelligence agencies’ latest assessment of threats to the United States. Sounding more like an economist than the war-fighting Navy commander he once was, National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told a Senate panel that if the economic crisis lasts more than two years, it could cause some nations’ governments to collapse. “The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests,” he told the Senate Intelligence Committee, as Congress prepares to vote on a $789 billion stimulus package.

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Summary: On the 27th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported that the U.S. Army was unveiling a new doctrine that foresees nation-building missions as becoming more important than conventional warfare; defines “fragile states” that breed crime, terrorism, and religious and ethnic strife as the greatest threat to U.S. national security; and holds that American troops in future will be less likely to engage in major ground combat against hostile states as they did in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead being called upon more often to operate in lawless areas to safeguard populations and rebuild countries.

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Summary: On the 29th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman took a one-day break from his 100-mile Sixth District Walking Tour and highlighted an emerging threat in Iraq, the mujahidaat: female suicide bombers motivated by revenge for family members killed by U.S. and Iraqi forces.

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Summary: On the 21st day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman posted a candidate profile by St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Dennis Lien, titled “Bachmann encounters challenger from within.” As a public service announcement to help draw attention to the sacrifice of National Guard citizen soldiers serving in Iraq and the families they leave behind, Immelman featured Part 2 of the Associated Press series, “The Longest Deployment” (the story of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota National Guard and its tour of duty in Iraq).

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Summary: On the 17th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman criticized Rep. Bachmann for focusing almost exclusively on energy issues in her campaign, while ignoring important national security concerns and illegal immigration issues. … Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says winning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will not end the “Long War” against violent extremism and that the fight against al-Qaeda and other terrorists should be the nation’s top military priority over coming decades, according to a new National Defense Strategy he approved in June 2008. … The U.S. has wasted more than half a billion dollars in Iraq repairs, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart Bowen reports in his quarterly report. … A report by the Center for Immigration Studies says the number of illegal immigrants fell about 11% between August 2007 and May 2008, from 12.5 million to 11.2 million.

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On the 15th day of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported on an op-ed dealing with high energy prices that he had written for the St. Cloud Times the previous day; met with Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner and Emergency Manager Marvin Klug; announced the release of a new web video in which he discusses his core campaign issues; and challenged unendorsed Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson’s justification for the Iraq war.

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Summary: On the 12th day of his 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann for the Republican nomination as House of Representatives candidate in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman traveled to Minneapolis to tape an interview with Ken Avidor for The UpTake, focusing on his background, his reasons for running, and his core issues of national security, law enforcement/public safety, and border security/illegal immigration. In discussing national security, Immelman pointed to lost opportunities after 9/11, specifically “the ill-conceived invasion of Iraq, which turned a country that had been militarily contained and led by a dictator hostile to Iran and to Islamic fundamentalism … into a foreign policy nightmare that has consumed our domestic political agenda and squandered our finite resources for more than five years.” (Includes video of interview)

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