For video of the senator’s full remarks, follow this press release.

***NEWS RELEASE***

For Immediate Release

November 16, 2017

CONTACT:

Beth Harrison, Hamilton Strategies, 610.584.1096, ext. 104, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com , or Deborah Hamilton, 610.584.1096, ext. 102

Center for Security Policy Honors Sen. Ted Cruz, State of Texas and Heroes of Hurricane Harvey at Annual Keeper of the Flame Dinner

Keeper of the Flame Award Recognizes Those Who Devote Public Careers to Securing Freedom and Promoting Peace through Strength

Washington, D.C.—Last evening, the Center for Security Policy honored Sen. Ted Cruz, the state of Texas for its “outsized contribution to the common defense” and the heroes of Hurricane Harvey at the 2017 Keeper of the Flame Award Dinner in Washington, D.C.

At the event, Sen. Cruz was presented with the Keeper of the Flame Award, which was inaugurated by the Center for Security Policy in 1990. The Award both acknowledges the past contributions of its recipients to securing freedom and promoting the time-tested practice of “peace through strength” and reminds others who share their commitment to liberty of the work yet to be done.

“Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has been a lifelong and tireless freedom fighter, in no small measure because his family knows firsthand what it is like for liberty to be extinguished,” said the Center’s founder and president Frank J. Gaffney. “Thanks to this abiding inspiration, Sen. Cruz has been renowned throughout his distinguished career of public service and private legal practice for his passionate commitment to the U.S. Constitution, to its prescription for limited government and opportunity for all and to its defense against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Ted Cruz has amply demonstrated the qualities that the times require, and that make him a true Keeper of the Flame.”

In the U.S. Senate, Cruz has led the fight in Congress to reestablish and enable the practice President Ronald Reagan called “peace through strength.” He has, in particular, distinguished himself as a champion of rebuilding and reequipping our armed services; enhancing U.S. missile defenses, including in space; countering the potentially catastrophic menace posed by electromagnetic pulse attacks; and exposing the stealthy “civilization jihad” being waged in this country by the Muslim Brotherhood.

A native of Houston, the senator has been deeply engaged in the heartbreaking and inevitably protracted effort to restore that vital city and its region ravaged by Hurricane Harvey. The spirit of Texas so evident during and after that horrific storm is a reminder of the outsized contribution the state makes to our country, its economy, its people and their security.

Previous recipients of the Keeper of the Flame Award include: President Ronald Reagan; Vice President Dick Cheney; Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and James Schlesinger; House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Sens. Jeff Sessions, Joe Lieberman, James Inhofe and Jon Kyl; Reps. Duncan Hunter Sr., Bill Young, Peter King, Howard “Buck” McKeon, Michele Bachmann and Frank Wolf; and Generals Richard Myers USAF, Jim Conway USMC, Jack Keene USA and Peter Pace USMC.

The 2017 Keeper of the Flame Award Dinner included an invocation by former U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Lt. Gen. and Rev. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, U.S. Army (Ret.), as well as musical performances by Gunnery Sgt. Jessie Jane Duff, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.). Reps. Louie Gohmert, Trent Franks and Brian Babin also made moving remarks.

The evening included the presentation of the 2017 Patriot Award winners—Jim Amos, Trayce Bradford, Diana Denman, Catherine Engelbrecht, Kevin Freeman, Debbie Georgatos, John Guandolo, Texas State Sen. Bob Hall, Phil Midkiff and Rep. Chris Stewart—as well as the honoring of the heroes of Hurricane Harvey, represented by first responders from Galveston County, Texas, which was for a protracted period completely cut off from its neighbors due to heavy rain: Michael and Sharon Lambert and Dawn Keller.

Since its founding in 1988, the Center for Security Policy has been “promoting peace through strength” as a time-tested formula for American security, rooted in the recognition that the world is a safer place when U.S. military, financial, economic, intelligence, diplomatic and informational capabilities are second-to-none.

The Center for Security Policy is a non-profit, non-partisan national security organization that specializes in identifying policies, actions and resource needs that are vital to American security. It seeks to ensure that such issues are the subject of both focused, principled examination and effective action by appropriate officials, policy experts, opinion leaders and the general public. The Center has worked to great effect in the establishment of successful national security policies through the use of all elements of national power—diplomatic, informational, military and economic strength. The philosophy of “peace through strength” is not a slogan for military might alone. Rather, it requires that the totality of America’s national power be nurtured and properly employed, for it holds a unique role in encouraging peace and security around the world.

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To interview Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy, contact Beth Harrison at 610.584.1096, ext. 104, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, or Deborah Hamilton, 610.5841096, ext. 102.

Full speech available here:

A full transcript of Senator Cruz’s remarks follows:

Cruz_KOF_2017