For over six decades, maintaining a strong NATO
Alliance has been one of the most important strategic objectives of the United
States. Every American President since Harry Truman, Republican and Democrat,
has believed that defending our alliance of democracies is a vital U.S.
interest, especially the core commitment enshrined in Article 5 of the NATO
treaty -- that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
Donald Trump’s recent statements casting doubt on
whether he would honor that commitment should one of our allies be attacked
compels us to respond. Just last week, Trump said he would consider recognizing
the Russian annexation of Crimea and lifting sanctions on Moscow. He also
encouraged the Russian government to hack into Secretary Clinton's emails.
These are disgraceful statements that betray our longstanding values and
national interests embraced by Presidents of both parties.
All of us have served our government as cabinet
officers, senior officials, and career military officers. We find Trump’s
comments to be reckless, dangerous, and extremely unwise. They contradict a
core, bipartisan principle found in every U.S. Administration - - that our
security in North America is indivisible with our democratic allies in Europe.
Trump’s ill-considered statements have already sown
doubt in the minds of our European partners as to whether they can count on
American resolve, commitment, and strength in the future. Those statements also
threaten to weaken our collective deterrence against Vladimir Putin from
further territorial aggression in Europe after his invasions of Ukraine and
Georgia. If Trump’s policy was implemented, it would undermine the essential
credibility of the United States in Europe and around the world.
NATO and our other alliances strengthen, not weaken
us. They are our greatest strategic advantage over countries like Russia that
have no allies. They help the American people to shoulder the military and
financial burden as we seek to maintain the peace around the world. To treat
our alliances as base transactions, as Trump appears to do in his consistent
criticism of our allies, is to misunderstand their essential importance to our own
security.
Hours after the catastrophic 9/11 attacks against our
country, Canada and our European allies invoked Article 5 for the first time in
NATO’s history and pledged to defend the United States in our time of need. All
of our allies then joined us in our fight in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda and
the Taliban. Many of them still fight with us today. A solemn obligation of the
American President is to lead NATO, to remain resolute in defense of our allies
and to convince potential adversaries that we will stand up for NATO without
fear or reservation. Every President, without exception, has accepted the
wisdom of this strategy. That is why we find Trump’s cavalier denigration of
NATO so worrying and so objectionable. Strong alliances are essential to U.S.
national security. America needs a President who will strengthen our alliances
not denigrate and destroy them.
Signed,
Madeleine Albright
Former Secretary of State
General John R. Allen, USMC (Ret.)
Former Commander of NATO International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces
Afghanistan
Jeremy Bash
Former Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense and CIA
John B. Bellinger III
Former Legal Advisor to the Department of State and Former Legal Advisor to the
National Security Council
John Beyrle
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and to Bulgaria
Ian Brzezinski
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy
Nicholas Burns
Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and Former Ambassador to NATO
William J. Burns
Former Deputy Secretary of State and Former Ambassador to Russia
Derek Chollet
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
Lt. General Dan Christman, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Former U.S. Representative to the NATO Military Committee and Former
Superintendent of the United States Military Academy
General Wesley K. Clark, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, 1997-2000
Richard Danzig
Secretary of the Navy, 1998-2001
Evelyn Farkas
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia
Lee Feinstein
Former U.S. Ambassador to Poland
Michele Flournoy
Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, 2009-2012
Lt. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin, USMC (Ret.)
Former Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Military Committee NATO
Philip Gordon
Former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and Former White
House Coordinator for the Middle East
Marc Grossman
Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and Former Ambassador to Turkey
John Herbst
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and to Uzbekistan
Kathleen Hicks
Former Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Christopher Hill
Former U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Iraq and South Korea
Beth Jones
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia
James N. Miller
Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, 2012-2014
Leon E. Panetta
Former Secretary of Defense and Director of the CIA
Thomas R. Pickering
Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and Former Ambassador to Russia
Steven Pifer
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
Marcie Ries
Former U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria and to Albania
Kori Schake
Former Director for Defense Strategy and Requirements
National Security Council
Randy Scheunemann
Former Defense Department Consultant
Wendy R. Sherman
Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Julianne Smith
Former Deputy National Security Advisor to Vice President Joseph Biden
Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.)
Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, 2009-2013
James Steinberg
Former Deputy Secretary of State
Andrew Weiss
Former Director for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia
National Security Council
Damon Wilson
Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs
National Security Council
Christine Wormuth
Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, 2014-2016
Kenneth Yalowitz
Former U.S. Ambassador to Georgia and to Belarus
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