grammaticality - Sentence with 'issue' and 'issue': Is it even grammatical?

Does this make sense and is this grammatical?

It’s a very difficult issue to push because of the issue that security comes first.

-- The Accidental Victims of Morsi's Fall, New Yorker, September 2013

Answer

The sentence does make sense but it's not particularly well written. It doesn't flow as the word issue is used twice.