Cybersecurity and terrorism are continuing threats to national security according to 13th District Congressman Mac Thornberry.

On Monday, the congressman spoke with students during a luncheon about current U.S. issues and then discussed the U.S. defense policy as part of the Prof. Edwards Discussions in Politics Series.

Thornberry said the current administration is too reactive when it comes to national security.

“As a whole, we just react to events too much,” Thornberry said. “We wait until a problem happens, like people flying airplanes into buildings for example, and then go deal with it.”

Thornberry said the country is going to have to be better about predicting and planning ahead for threats to national security.

“You can never predict the future, but you can see trends,” he said. “Cybersecurity is a trend. We should have seen terrorism as a trend.”

Thornberry recently spoke out against the Obama administration for the terrorist attack in Libya.

“There are two questions about Libya,” he said. “One is what did we know before the attacks and what should have been done to prevent it. The second question is what was done after the attack.”

Thornberry sits on the House Intelligence Committee and said he was briefed by the CIA right after the incident.

“They were absolutely adamant that it was just caused by the video and a mob that just got out of hand and our ambassador was killed,” he said. “It turns out they had other information about the attack and knew it was a terrorist attack.”

Thornberry said it concerns him not knowing whether the administration did not know the reason behind the attacks or if they were using it as political spin.

“It is a trend of this administration,” he said. “They have been talking too much for political purpose about national security and that bothers me a lot.”

Thornberry is also concerned about cybersecurity, which he has called a direct threat to our economy and job creation, as well as the country’s national security.

The government is behind when it comes to developing technology to combat attacks, Thornberry said.

“The House passed bills, which was basically a catch up measure, but the trick is we have so much more work to do,” he said. “In the next two years, I’ll be having lots of meetings with my sub-committee about the Department of Defense’s role in defending security in cyberspace.”

Getting the ball rolling on cybersecurity is one of Thornberry’s goals for next session.

“In the bigger picture, this country really is at a crossroads on the economics,” Thornberry said. “Getting the economy going again and holding down spending is the centerpiece of what the whole Congress and White House works on regardless of how the election turns out.”

The lack of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill was another issue Thornberry tackled during his discussion with students as he described how he has had no problem working with the other side of the aisle.

“We are so focused on hearing information that agrees with what we already believe,” Thornberry said. “It is really hard to sort through whether something is accurate or not. I do think that contributes to the bipartisanship in Washington.”

On Nov. 6, Thornberry will be fighting for this 13th District Congressman seat against Liber

tarian candidate John Robert Deek and Keith F. Houston from the Green Party.

However, Thornberry said he not familiar with his challengers.

“I am fortunate that I have had several weeks to go around and visit with people and not really had to campaign,” he said. “I can talk about issues  without having to campaign with a lot of ‘vote for me.’”

While traveling around the state, Thornberry said Texans from this area didn’t suffer a deeper recession than the rest of the country.

“People from our area also probably didn’t have as big of a boom before [the recession] as the rest of the country,” he said. “Agriculture and energy productions has been pretty good so the economy has been better in general here than in the rest of the country.”

Although, there is a general concern with small and larger Texas businesses, Thornberry said.

“Nearly all of them are worried about where we are [economically] and what it is going to mean,” Thornberry said. “From the businesses I’ve talked to here at home to looking at industries nationwide, people are reluctant to stick their necks out to hire an extra person or to invest in an expansion because they don’t know what’s going on.”

This is one of the reasons Thornberry thinks Gov. Mitt Romney is the clear choice in the presidential race.

“You always hear that ‘this is the most important election we’ve ever seen,’ yet if I had to say one way or another, I do think this may be the most important election since I’ve been paying attention,” Thornberry said. “This is partly because I think the choice is so clear between the presidential candidates.”

Thornberry said when he last met with Romney a few months ago that his ideas were clicking with him.

“If you look at the economic situation the country is in, Gov. Romney is very qualified by virtue of his background to discuss those issues,” he said.

Before Tuesday’s third presidential debate, Thornberry said the momentum was in Romney’s favor.

“[Romney’s] field of expertise is in economics and some people, including me, believe that the number one national security problem we’ve got is the economy,” he said.

The life-long Republican said Romney comes from a more realistic standpoint about the importance of strength and power in world affairs.

“President Obama came into office wanting to be better liked,” Thornberry said. “He went to Cairo and gave a speech and tried to reset relations with Russia. He thought the problems we had in the past was because George W. Bush’s personality or he didn’t try and be nice enough. Well, that’s not the way it works in the world.”

While discussing the United States’ interest overseas, Thornberry said the decisions that the government make affect younger people far longer than anyone else.

Art major Samantha Nichols encouraged Thornberry to participate in a luncheon with 50 students to discuss their concerns about the state of the country.

“A lot of the [political] opinions I hear aren’t necessary uneducated, it’s just people aren’t informed,” Nichols said. “I just really wanted to emphasize informed voting.”

Nichols said students rarely get the chance to meet and speak to the people who are presenting them.

“A lot of people are thinking about this election in two weeks as just the presidential election, but a lot of the decisions that are going to be made aren’t the presidential votes,” she said. “They are your congressman and your senator. They are votes that hit a lot closer to home that ultimately affect you more.”