By Ginni Thomas and Alexa Archambault, DCNF

National security expert Frank Gaffney believes President Donald Trump needs to “clean house,” and rid his executive agencies of Obama-era officials.

Gaffney is the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, a Washington-based national security policy think tank.

“I would have one message [to President Trump],” Gaffney told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “He must drain the swamp. Most especially with respect to the personnel in his own administration.”

The slew of current government employees that are still loyal to former President Barack Obama are stymieing Trump’s foreign policy agenda, according to Gaffney. He believes that six months into Trump’s presidency, there have been many lost opportunities due to this fact.

“I think that that’s primarily a function of the personnel, who have largely been responsible for his own policies inside the executive branch and for the … legislative aspects on Capitol,” Gaffney said, adding that Trump should not waste another day of his presidency by keeping around employees who are not ideologically in sync with the administration.

Gaffney also touched on the Trump-Russia collusion claims in The DCNF exclusive interview.

“The evidence of the lack of seriousness about this on the part of these Democrats is that they’re not really interested in exploring actual collusion with the Russians,” Gaffney told The DCNF.

He went on to explain previous instances in which Russia played a role in United States elections, specifically involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Gaffney cited an instance in which Clinton initiated a transfer of American technology to Skolkovo Innovation Center, which is located just outside Moscow. Among the technologies were hypersonic rocket engines, which are now being used by the Russian government to be able to penetrate America’s missile defenses.

“Now if you want to talk about collusion … Skolkovo is a place to look at,” Gaffney said. “And until you do, don’t talk to me about Russian collusion.”

Gaffney concluded by stating that the military budget must be taken seriously and restored after Obama dealt serious blows to it.

“My argument in talking to regular Americans about this is peace through strength … is the one tried and true means of avoiding the horrors of getting entangled in foreign wars,” Gaffney said.

There is a serious threat, according to Gaffney, that if America does not have a strong military, we may be inviting our adversaries to engage in aggressions against us and our allies.

For more information on national security policy, Gaffney suggests his nonprofit’s website, SecureFreedom.org. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Videographer Sean Moody is credited with the video work for this piece.

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