Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, USA (Ret.), Discussion Centered on the Nation's Drug Threat

Click to read Lt. Gen. Blum Article, The Most Dangerous Existential Threat: Illegal Drugs

Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States; urban warfare in Israel; tsunamis in Haiti and Japan; combat in Iraq and Afghanistan; peacekeeping missions in Kosovo, Sinai, and Bosnia; pandemic influenza, high-seas piracy, and cyber attacks around the world. In the past 375 years, the U.S. National Guard has been an integral part of the nation’s protection and recovery efforts – both inside and outside the United States – for all types of both natural and manmade disasters. A great deal of time, money, and energy have been spent preparing for and responding to catastrophic threats and events, and yet there is one current threat that may be more destructive and more dangerous than any seen in the past – Illegal Drugs.

Although various “ripple” effects can be felt outside a disaster-struck area, only one current threat has the ability to touch every American citizen, reach every family, and adversely affect every household – including the White House. Nobody is completely immune, protected, insulated, or isolated from the effects of this scourge on society. Illegal drugs, and their second- and third-order effects, present what could arguably be described, accurately, as the most dangerous and clear existential threat to the United States and its citizens.

Click to listen to full audio interview