Nearly 500 National Security Experts Endorse Biden For President

Enlarge this image

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at the Black Economic Summit at Camp North End in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday. In a letter, nearly 500 national security experts have endorsed Joe Biden for president.

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Politics
Former Pence Aide Backs Biden, Drawing Scorn From Trump

Politics
Scapegoats And Allies: How Trump Changed His Tune On States’ Coronavirus Response

Consider This from NPR
Journalist Bob Woodward Says Trump Is ‘The Wrong Man For The Job’

National
Trump’s Attacks Put Military In ‘Presidential Campaign Minefield’

The pro-Biden letter comes on the heels of an endorsement of Trump last week by 235 senior military leaders, saying the president has rebuilt the military and is a «strong advocate» for military personnel and veterans.

«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,» the letter read.

Among those signing: Admiral Thomas B. Hayward, who served as the Navy’s top officer until 1982 and retired Admiral Leighton Smith, who commanded US Naval forces in Europe in the 1990s.

Peter Feaver, a civilian military expert at Duke University, says the pro-Biden letter was likely once the Trump campaign released its own letter.

What is striking about the letter endorsing Biden, he adds, is that «some of the people on the lists served in high positions under President Trump and so presumably are reacting to what they witnessed first hand and not merely what they observed at a distance.»

And Feaver says this all could lead to a continued politicization of a military that by tradition is nonpartisan.

«When a senior military leader comes out against his or her former commander-in—chief in this way – as Admiral [William] Crowe did back in 1992 against President George H.W. Bush – it has an inevitable politicizing effect on the senior military appointment process.»

Besides former senior civilian officials, generals and admirals, the pro-Biden letter is also signed by a number of retired senior enlisted personnel including, Army Sgt. Maj. Sean Baker and Marine Sgt. Major John Estrada.

It begins by saying the COVID-19 pandemic «has proven America needs principled, wise and responsible leadership. America needs a president who understands, as President Harry S Truman said, that ‘the buck stops here.’ «

Echoing Trump’s comments on the coronavirus, the letter says, «It is unthinkable that (Biden) would ever utter the phrase ‘I don’t take responsibility at all.'»

The letter says Biden is «the leader our nation needs,» and «a good man with a strong sense of right and wrong.»

Besides the coronavirus response by the Trump White House, the letter says as a result of the president’s «disdainful attitude and failures,» climate change continues «unabated,» as does North Korea’s nuclear program.

And it says the president has «ceded influence to a Russian adversary who puts bounties on the heads of American military personnel.» That’s a reference to intelligence reports that Russian paid the Taliban to target American service members in Afghanistan although Pentagon officials say they are still reviewing those reports.

The letter also takes on the White House for its lack of support to NATO, for Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS, and for Japan and South Korea as well.

The president pulled hundreds of U.S. troops out of Syria, allowing Turkey to move in and target Kurds, angering American forces on the ground who were working with the Kurds to beat back ISIS.

«Joe Biden would never sell out our allies to placate despots of because he dislikes an allied leader,» the letter states.

• 2020 election
• Joe Biden