The national security issues facing the United States today are old hat for Rick Santorum.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, the former Pennsylvania senator emphasized his eight-year tenure on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said that he "worked to retool our military" to combat terrorists in the days before and after September 11—and that another retooling is in order today from the next commander in chief.
"We need someone with real experience to be able to rebuild our military," Santorum said. "The likelihood that we're going to face a former secretary of State means that we need someone who has a long and deep understanding of the threats that confront us, particularly the threat of radical Islam."
The threat of the Islamic State, he said, should be countered with a more aggressive U.S. mission. "If ISIS wants to establish a seventh-century caliphate, let's oblige them by bombing them back to the seventh century."
Santorum said the Obama administration's foreign policy strategy has hurt American credibility worldwide.
"In fact, the president's popularity is so bad around the world today that I heard this report from a source that the Kenyan government is actually developing proof that Barack Obama was actually born in America," he joked.