Senator Graham understood that peace is preserved through strength. He fought for sustained investment in America’s defense industrial base, a modernized nuclear deterrent, stronger missile defense, expanded shipbuilding and greater production of the weapons and munitions required to defend our nation and its allies. His support for the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act helped advance billions in funding authority for shipbuilding, Golden Dome and munitions production. He also understood that economic security is national security. Long before many recognized the full danger, Senator Graham warned that the Chinese communist party was using intellectual-property theft, cybercrime, currency manipulation and predatory trade practices against American businesses and workers. He introduced legislation to strengthen the prosecution of international trade crimes and protect American trade secrets, sensitive research and technological innovation. Senator Graham also understood that the next great contest for national power would not be fought only with ships, missiles and aircraft, but with compute, data, research, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and the protection of America’s innovation base. He fought to protect sensitive American research & intellectual property from Chinese communist party theft, recognizing that American competiveness is not only decided by who could build the strongest systems, but by who could secure the laboratories, universities, companies and defense technologies that make those systems possible. He pressed Congress to treat artificial intelligence as a national-security issue, a legal-liability issue and a strategic competition issue. He helped push the debate beyond slogans and toward accountability, guardrails, research security and American technological leadership. Through his work on AI-related legislation, his warnings about Chinese predatory practices, his defense of American research and his support for the broader science and defense industrial base, Senator Graham helped strengthen the foundations the United States needs to win the race for strong AI and to ensure that the most powerful technologies in history are developed under free institutions not under the control of the Chinese communist party or any other authoritarian power.