CVFC PAC: Congressman Michael J. Gallagher, Capt-USMC (PhD) (R-WI-8) Chairs Vital House Committee on Communist China
The right man for the job
Congressman Mike Gallagher, R-WI
This is an editorial from the Combat Veterans for Congress Political Action Committee that summarizes the career, experience, and focus of Congressman Mike Gallagher, who is the chairman of the House Select Committee on China. It is posted here with permission of the author. CVFC PAC supports the election of US military combat veterans to the US Senate and House of Representatives. Their cause is righteous, and generous donations are welcome at the link at the end. Note: I am on the PAC’s board of directors in the capacity of Director of Congressional and Public Relations.
The editorial begins:
Elected to his Fourth Term in Congress, Congressman Michael John Gallagher, Cpt-USMC (PhD) (R-WI-8), of Green Bay, was the 110th endorsed Combat Veteran For Congress. He serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Cong Gallagher was just selected as the Chairman of the vital House Select Committee on Communist China, it is a sorely-needed instrument to drive the Communist China policy debate in Congress. The Mission of the House Select Committee on Communist China is to focus on the growing military imbalance between the United States and Communist China, the imbalance has worsened over the last two years, because of the weak Foreign Policy of the Biden/Obama administration in Southeast Asia.
Cong Mike Gallagher is a fiscally conservative Congressman who has tried to rein in the out-of-control spending by irresponsible Social Democrat members in Congress, and worked to reduce the national debt. He is a seventh generation Wisconsin native and was born in Green Bay on March 3, 1984. Cong Gallagher comes from a large Irish Catholic family that first settled in Northeast Wisconsin in 1845 and remain there to this day. His grandfather, father, godfather, and sister are all well-known obstetricians.
In June 2006, Mike received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Near East Studies from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University; he majored in Near Eastern Studies and Arabic. In June 2010 Michael Gallagher received a Master of Science Degree in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University in Washington DC. Michael received a Master of Arts Degree in Security Studies in 2012, and in 2013 he received a Master of Arts Degree in in Government from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Michael was subsequently awarded a Doctorate Degree in Government-International Relations from Georgetown University in June 2015, where his dissertation focused on presidential-decision making and the conditions under which presidents and Congress make major foreign policy changes. He has published articles on foreign policy in Intelligence and National Security, The National Interest, Parameters, and The Marine Corps Gazette.
In February 2004, while matriculating at Princeton University, Michael Gallagher was sworn in to the US Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class Program at the US Marine Corps Recruiting Headquarters in Princeton, NJ. During the summer following his junior year at Princeton, Michael attended Officer Candidate School at the US Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia, and graduated in September 2005. Upon graduation from Princeton on June 5, 2006, Michael Gallagher was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps.
In September 2007, 2nd Lt Gallagher deployed from Camp Pendleton to Iraq’s Al Anbar Province. During that deployment, 2nd Lt Gallagher was a Human Intelligence Exploitation Team Commander serving in general support of Regimental Combat Team-2 Assessment, where he conducted over 100 tactical interrogations and supported over 38 regimental Aero Scout missions. In April of 2008 he returned to Camp Pendleton and re-deployed to Iraq one month later in May 2008.
During his second deployment, on May 26, 2008, 2nd Lt Gallagher was promoted to First Lieutenant, and served in direct support of Task Force 2/2 in the border town of Al Qaim, Iraq as a Human Intelligence Exploitation Team Commander. Upon 1st Lt Gallagher’s return from his second deployment, he was temporarily assigned to General Petraeus’ Central Command Assessment Team—serving at both CENTCOM Forward HQ in Qatar and National Defense University—where he was the only Company Grade Officer participating in this comprehensive review of the CENTCOM AOR.
1st Lt Gallagher was promoted to Captain on July 1, 2010. Capt Gallagher was Honorably Discharged from the Marine Corps on August 31, 2013 and accepted a commission as a Captain in the US Marine Corps Reserve. While on active duty, Capt. Gallagher earned the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Navy Unit Commendation (Gold Star in lieu of 2nd award), and various Campaign and Service Medals.
While on active duty, Capt Gallagher was named by the Center For a New American Security as a “Next Generation National Security Leader”, was selected as a Foundation for the Defense of Democracies National Security Fellow, and was listed as a “Top 99 under 33 Foreign Policy Leader” by the Diplomatic Courier.
As a civilian, Mike served from September 2013 to February 2015 as the Republican Professional Staff Member for Middle East/North Africa and Counterterrorism on the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In that capacity, he was the lead expert for over 20 countries including Iran, Israel, Syria, and Iraq, and for global counterterrorism operations. He was responsible for conducting State Department/USAID oversight and, as a Captain in US Marine Corps Reserves, served as part of the Defense Intelligence Agency Director’s Development Group.
As the Select Committee Chairman on Communist China, Cong Michael J Gallagher will focus on the Select Committees central task. The Select Committee’s central task is to focus on the geopolitical reality in Southeast Asia that the Biden/Obama administration has been working tirelessly, trying to blur the fact that Communist China is preparing their population for war, and he will reveal to the American electorate just how seriously the military imbalance of power has become under the Biden/Obama administration.
Over the last two years, the military balance has shifted severely against the United States, since the Biden/Obama administration has neglected and degraded the “Combat Effectiveness” of the US Armed Forces. Communist China now has a largest Army and Navy in the world, and they are involved in a massive warship building program, expanding the number of China’s aircraft carriers and their nuclear submarines.
Cong Gallagher’s focus as the Chairman of the Select Committee on Communist China is to grapple with the reality of the severe modification that have occurred in Southeast Asia over the last two years, where Communist China’s growing military power, and America’s declining military capabilities have destabilized the status quo. Those realities have threatened America’s allies of South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Australia, Guam, and Thailand in the region.
The military imbalance in favor of Communist China has also undermined the strategic status quo in Europe and in Asia. Unless the Select Committee exposes the military imbalance to the American electorate, and convinces Congress to take action to rectify it, primarily through a major expansion of the US Armed Forces and a commensurate increase in America’s defense industrial capacity, it will only be a matter of time before an element of the strategic status quo cracks. The most likely result of any future fissure would result in the invasion of Taiwan.
Joseph R. John, USNA ‘62
CAPT, USN (Ret’d)/Former FBI
Chairman, Combat Veterans For Congress PAC
2307 Fenton Parkway, Suite 107-184
San Diego, CA 92108
https://www.CombatVeteransForCongress.org
The end.