More than 400 national security and foreign policy officials, including former Cabinet members, military officers, and Gold Star families, endorsed former President Donald Trump for the presidency in 2024.
The endorsement, organized by former National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and former National Security Council Chief of Staff Alex Gray, was outlined in an open letter condemning the foreign policy of the Biden-Harris administration, reports Fox News. The signatories urged Americans to re-elect Trump, citing the current administration’s “repeated failures” on the global stage.
The letter warns of escalating international conflicts, unchecked adversaries like China, and national security risks stemming from an open southern border. “From a world at peace under President Trump, we are closer to a third world war than ever before under the Biden-Harris Administration,” the letter states. “U.S. national security has been profoundly damaged by the failed policies of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden.”
Among the prominent officials endorsing Trump were several key figures from his administration, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Attorney General Bill Barr, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Eleven family members of the 13 American service members killed during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 also signed the letter, a move that underscored deep dissatisfaction with President Biden’s handling of the exit from Afghanistan.
The letter contrasts Trump’s foreign policy successes, such as negotiating a peace agreement with the Taliban in 2020, with the “botched” withdrawal from Afghanistan under the current administration, which resulted in the loss of American lives at Abbey Gate in Kabul. The signatories argue that Trump’s decisive leadership prevented further American casualties during his tenure.
“When President Trump took office, the war in Afghanistan had dragged on for almost 16 years,” the letter reads. “By February 2020, a peace agreement was reached, ensuring no American soldier was killed in combat until the end of the Trump Administration. This agreement held strong because the Taliban understood President Trump’s resolve.”
The endorsement also highlights Trump’s diplomatic achievements, including the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations, and cease-fire agreements between Turkey and Kurdish fighters in Syria. The letter refers to Trump as a “peacemaker” and invokes the biblical message, “blessed are the peacemakers,” from the Gospel of Matthew to underscore his foreign policy legacy.
Dr. Jerry Hendrix, a former director of the Secretary of the Navy’s Advisory Panel and one of the signatories, explained his decision to sign the letter on X, formerly Twitter. “Trump had one of the more successful foreign policy presidencies since the Cold War,” Hendrix wrote. “He ended sequestration. He invested in the Navy. The Biden-Harris admin has been one foreign policy debacle after another.”