Nearly 500 national security experts pen ‘Open letter to America’ endorsing Joe Biden for president
A contingent of 489 national security experts comprised of senior military officers as well as civilian professionals in the field wrote an “Open letter to America” wherein they endorsed Joe Biden for president. Those experts include 22 retired four-Star generals who believe the “current president” is not up to “the enormous responsibilities of his office,” according to NPR.
One of those retired four-Stars is General Peter Chiarelli, who served as the No. 2 officer for the U.S. Army prior to his 2012 retirement. Chiarelli told NPR that he never considered himself politically-minded, until now,
“I believe the current administration is a real threat to the republic,” he said, citing the president’s “attacks on institutions” and his “failure to lead,” especially on a coronavirus response. Chiarelli said it “makes me ill” that the wearing of masks to prevent the spread of the virus has been politicized by the president. “I believed I had to stand up and be counted.”
Another of the national security experts who signed the Biden for president endorsement letter is Air Force General Paul Selva, retired, who in 2019 resigned as the No. 2 officer in the Pentagon and who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He had been re-nominated to the Joint Chiefs by Trump in 2017 after being first appointed by President Obama in 2015, according to CNN.
Selva, along with another signatory, retired U.S. Navy Admiral Paul Zukunft, who was the commandant of the Coast Guard until June 2018, are both highly decorated four-Stars who both served under Trump but who have endorsed Joe Biden for president in the letter, according to Politico.
Regarding the current president’s lack of leadership, one portion of the open letter to America reads:
“Thanks to his disdainful attitude and his failures, our allies no longer trust or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us. Climate change continues unabated, as does North Korea’s nuclear program. The president has ceded influence to a Russian adversary who puts bounties on the heads of American military personnel, and his trade war against China has only harmed America’s farmers and manufacturers.”
It goes on to say, “only FDR and Abraham Lincoln came into office facing more monumental crises than the next president.”
Other influential names signing that Biden for president endorsement letter include:
- retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Michael Franken, who recently ran unsuccessfully for the Iowa Democratic Senate;
- former State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, who served under George W. Bush;
- retired U.S. Navy Admiral Thomas B. Hayward, who served as the Navy’s top officer until 1982;
- civilian military expert at Duke University, Peter Feaver;
- former national security advisor Susan Rice;
- former secretary of state Madeleine Albright; and
- former senior Pentagon official, Michele Flournoy.
The letter was addressed to “Our Fellow Citizens,” and read in part, “Joe Biden’s record on the military and veterans is one of failure: debilitating budget cuts, failed foreign policy decisions, and an inability to provide our nation’s heroes with the quality health care they deserve.”
Those writing the Biden endorsement included, “Republicans, Democrats and Independents united by a common fear for the future of the country,” according to Military.com.
“The next president will inherit a nation — and a world — in turmoil.”
“The current President has demonstrated he is not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office; he cannot rise to meet challenges large or small. Thanks to his disdainful attitude and his failures, our allies no longer trust or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us.”
The letter specified, “the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recession, malign Russian influence and threats from a nuclear North Korea as challenges the U.S. president will face over the next four years, adding that Biden, who previously served as vice president, was capable of taking them on.” Additional reasons were for endorsing Biden were also included.
The letter says Biden is “the leader our nation needs” and “a good man with a strong sense of right and wrong.”
“Many of us have briefed Joe Biden on matters of national security, and we know he demands a thorough understanding of any issue before making a decision — as any American president should,” the signers wrote. “… Joe Biden believes in personal responsibility. Over his long career, he has learned hard lessons and grown as a leader who can take positive action to unite and heal our country. It is unthinkable that he would ever utter the phrase ‘I don’t take responsibility at all.'”
The letter never mentioned Donald Trump by name.
The “Open Letter to America” was released for publication at 6 a.m. this morning.
The complete text of the letter and all its signatories are available for viewing, here.
Although not exactly a national security expert, staunch Republican Cindi McCain – widow of deceased GOP Senator and Vietnam war hero John McCain, also just came forward to endorse Joe Biden for president.
When campaigning for president in 2015, Donald Trump asserted that John McCain was not a war hero because he was captured and held as a prisoner of war.
“I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said. Trump’s comments have received renewed attention following a report by The Atlantic that revealed Trump calling Americans who served and died in war “losers” and “suckers.” Trump has disputed that report.
U.S. Navy Admiral Steve Abbot, retired, also a signatory of the open letter to America, is on record as saying, “This president said back in previous cycles that John McCain was not a hero, he was a loser. And I knew when he said that, that he was not on my wavelength. Because John McCain, in my view, is a national hero.”
Also in the news this week, Olivia Troye, a White House insider and former top aide to Mike Pence who also sat in on the White House Coronavirus Task Force meetings, has also stepped forward to endorse Joe Biden for president, saying that Donald Trump is, “not looking out for you and is putting lives at risk.”
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
