U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales also discusses a new facility designed to prevent a screwworm outbreak in Texas.
DALLAS — Congressman Tony Gonzales (R-23rd District) was a Naval Cryptologist for 20 years with high level Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance.
So, the Republican knows intelligence.
When it comes to the initial assessment that U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities only set Tehran’s program back by months, but did not completely eliminate it, Congressman Gonzales says it’s only a first step and concrete information gathering takes time.
But he says the bottom line is that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, so any delay is a positive.
“Oftentimes, the initial intelligence report is just the scratch of the surface,” the lawmaker told WFAA on Inside Texas Politics. “We usually take weeks, if not months, before you get an extensive BDA, bomb damage assessment, of the situation. So, for me, it’s like stay tuned, let’s wait until we get all of the facts.”
Congressman Gonzales says he does worry about the situation spiraling into a wider conflict, particularly if Iran’s nuclear capabilities could be restored in a short amount of time.
The Republican says he’s looking for President Donald Trump to lean on his generals and admirals for an exit strategy while we wait to see if the ceasefire between Israel and Iran holds.
“It’s never been a problem of the United States getting into wars. It’s always been a problem with us getting out of wars,” Gonzales said.
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The lawmaker is concerned that Iran will retaliate against the United States. Iran already launched a retaliatory attack on the U.S. airbase in Qatar. But they gave us early warning to minimize casualties, and there were none.
Congressman Gonzales has also reintroduced legislation that would beef up cybersecurity, another likely avenue of retaliation. He calls cyber threats “very real.”
The Republican says if the power went out, for example, local municipalities are better suited to use local expertise to turn the lights back on. So, his bill, essentially, allows local experts to operate in a federal capacity for a limited amount of time while something like power is restored.
The congressman is also monitoring the possibility of Iranian sleeper cells in the United States.
Gonzales told WFAA Attorney General Pam Bondi recently testified before his committee, and he asked her how many of those cells are in our country.
“I didn’t get an exact number. But what I did get was DOJ is concerned. DOJ, Department of Justice, is on high alert. And so, what that tells me is if DOJ is on high alert, we should be on high alert as well, meaning don’t think for a second that what happened overseas can’t happen here in our backyard,” said Gonzales.
The congressman was recently in Texas to battle another critical issue facing our state: screwworms, a parasitic fly that can devastate livestock. That has leaders worried about the impact on the economy and the food supply chain.
Gonzales and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins opened an $8.5 million screwworm dispersal facility in south Texas that will release sterilized flies. The sterilization prevents a fly from spreading the parasite.
While screwworms have been eradicated in the United States for decades, they’ve been recently discovered in Mexico, and this is an attempt to keep them out of Texas and the United States.
“This is how we get ahead of a problem, not wait until screwworms have prevented us from having steaks on Friday and burgers on Saturday. We get ahead of it, and we protect our industries,” Gonzales said.