More than 100 former GOP administration national security officials from four decades say President Trump’s refusal to accept 2020 election result is dangerous and harmful. https://buff.ly/2IZ7O5k
Statement by Former National Security Officials
November 23, 2020
We are former senior national security officials who served in Republican administrations under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and/or Donald Trump or as Republican Members of Congress. We believe that President Trump’s refusal to concede the election and allow for an orderly transition constitutes a serious threat to America’s democratic process and to our national security. We therefore call on Republican leaders – especially those in Congress – to publicly demand that President Trump cease his anti-democratic assault on the integrity of the presidential election.
It has been clear for over two weeks that Joe Biden won the 2020 Presidential election, garnering 306 electoral votes, far more than the 270 electoral votes required to be elected.
Despite this clear outcome, President Trump has refused to accept the results and begin the transition process. While the President is legally entitled to request recounts and file good-faith legal challenges, he has presented no evidence of widespread fraud or any other significant irregularities. Nearly every case filed by the President’s team across multiple states has been summarily dismissed.
President Trump’s continued efforts to cast doubt on the validity of the election and to interfere in state electoral processes undermine our democracy and risk long-term damage to our institutions. Although some Republican leaders have supported President Trump’s right to challenge aspects of the voting in various states, for the good of the country, they should now strongly oppose his dangerous and extra-legal efforts to intimidate state election officials and distort the Electoral College process.
President Trump’s refusal to permit the presidential transition also poses significant risks to our national security, at a time when the U.S. confronts a global pandemic and faces serious threats from global adversaries, terrorist groups, and other forces. The delay in allowing transition teams to meet and confer with officials on the Coronavirus Task Force and at the National Security Council, the Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, and the other departments and agencies critical to U.S. national security means that the incoming Biden Administration will be less prepared to defend America’s security when it assumes power in 59 days.
These concerns are not just hypothetical: the 9/11 Commission concluded that the shortened transition to the George W. Bush Administration during the election dispute in 2000-2001 “hampered the new administration in identifying, recruiting, clearing, and obtaining Senate confirmation of key appointees” who were responsible for addressing the gathering threat of al Qaida terrorists in the months leading up to the 9/11 attacks. To ensure national security readiness, the Commission recommended that a high priority be placed on “minimizing as much as possible the disruption to national security policymaking during the change of administrations.”
The election is over, the outcome certain. Over the past days, a number of Republican leaders have called on President Trump to respect the will of the American people. It is now time for the rest of the Republican leadership to put politics aside and insist that President Trump cease his dilatory and anti-democratic efforts to undermine the result of the election and begin a smooth and orderly transition of power to President-elect Biden. By encouraging President Trump’s delaying tactics or remaining silent, Republican leaders put American democracy and national security at risk.
Adm. Steve Abbot, Fmr Dep Homeland Security Advisor
Kenneth Adelman, Fmr Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
Amb. Peter Allgeier, Fmr Deputy US Trade Representative
Mary Catherine Andrews, Fmr Special Asst to the President
Richard Armitage, Fmr Director, NSC Staff
Nancy Bearg, Fmr Senior Director, NSC Staff
John Bellinger, Fmr Legal Adviser, Dept of State
Adm. Kenneth Bernard, Fmr Special Asst to the President
Mark Bitterman, Fmr Special Asst to the Secretary of Defense
Amb. Robert Blackwill, Fmr Deputy National Security Advisor
Christian Bonat, Fmr Dep General Counsel, Defense Dept
Amb. Charles Bowers, Fmr US Ambassador
Bertram Braun, Fmr Director, NSC Staff
Amb. Peter Bridges, Fmr US Ambassador
Amb. Linton Brooks
Fmr Administrator, National Nuclear Security Admin
Greg Brower, Fmr Asst Director of the FBI
Amb. James Bullington, Fmr U.S. Ambassador
Amb. Richard Burt, Fmr US Ambassador to Germany
Sally Canfield, Fmr Dep Chief of Staff, Dept of Homeland Security
Amb. Jack Chow, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of State
Thomas Christensen, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of State
Eliot Cohen, Fmr Counselor of the Dept of State
Joseph Collins, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of Defense
Bret Coulson, Fmr Director, NSC Staff
Patrick Cronin, Fmr Asst Administrator, USAID
Amb. Sada Cumber, Fmr US Special Envoy to the OIC
Mike Donley, Fmr Secretary of the Air Force
Raymond DuBois, Fmr Acting Under Secretary of the Army
Lewis Dunn, Fmr Asst Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
Amb. Eric Edelman, Fmr Under Secretary of Defense
Gary Edson, Fmr Deputy National Security Advisor
Richard Falkenrath, Fmr Dep Asst to the President
Carl Ford, Fmr Asst Secretary of State
Aaron Friedberg, Fmr Dep Asst to the Vice President
William Gaches, Fmr Director of Counterterrorism, NSA
Janice Gardner, Fmr Asst Secretary of the Treasury
John Gardner, Fmr Special Asst to the President
Amb. James Glassman, Fmr Under Secretary of State
Amb. Jon Glassman, Fmr Dep National Security Advisor to the Vice President
Colleen Graffy, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of State
Michael Green, Fmr Senior Director, NSC Staff
Sen. Chuck Hagel, Fmr Secretary of Defense and US Senator
Christopher Hankin, Fmr Dep Asst Secretry of State
Mark Harvey, Fmr Special Asst to the President
Gen. Michael Hayden, Fmr Director of the CIA and the NSA
Amb. Carla Hills, Fmr US Trade Representative
Seth Hurwitz, Fmr Counsel, President's Intelligence Oversight Board
Ash Jain, Fmr Member, State Dept Policy Planning
Les Janka, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of Defense
Neil Joeck, Fmr Director, NSC Staff
Amb. Richard Kauzlarich, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of State
James Kelly, Fmr Asst Secretary of State
Donald Kerr, Fmr Princ Dep Director of National Intelligence
Rep. Jim Kolbe, Fmr Member of Congress
David Kramer, Fmr Asst Secretary of State
Ken Krieg, Fmr Under Secretary of Defense
James Kunder, Fmr Deputy Administrator, USAID
Amb. Frank Lavin, Fmr Under Secretary of Commerce
Rep. Jim Leach, Fmr Member of Congress
Bruce Lemkin, Fmr Dep Under Secretary of the Air Force
Michael Leiter, Fmr Director, National Counterterrorism Ctr
Peter Lichtenbaum, Fmr Asst Secretary of Commerce
Amb. Winston Lord, Fmr US Ambassador
James Loy, Fmr Dep Secretary of Homeland Security
Peter Madigan, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of State
Amb. Steve Mann, Fmr Prin Dep Asst Secretary of State
Col. John McDonald, Fmr Dep Under Secretary of the Army
Bryan McGrath, Former US Navy Officer
Amb. Michael McKinley, Fmr US Ambassador
Christopher Mellon, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of Defense
David Merkel, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of State
John Mitnick, Fmr General Counsel, Department of Homeland Security
Allen Moore, Fmr Under Secretary of Commerce
Alberto Mora, Fmr Gen Counsel, Dept of the Navy
Kenneth Mortensen, Fmr Assoc Dep Attorney General
Virginia Mulberger, Fmr Special Asst to the President
Amb. John Negroponte
Fmr Director of National Intelligence, and Fmr Deputy Secretary of State
Elizabeth Neumann, Fmr Asst Secretary of Homeland Security
Sean O’Keefe, Fmr Secretary of the Navy and NASA Administrator
William Piekney, Fmr CIA Operations Manager
Daniel Price, Fmr Dep National Security Advisor
Clyde Prestowitz, Fmr Counselor to the Secretary of Commerce
Victor Reis, Fmr Director, Defense Adv Research Projects Agency
Gov. Tom Ridge, Fmr Secretary of Homeland Security
Paul Rosenzweig, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of Homeland Security
Nicholas Rostow, Fmr NSC Legal Adviser
Kori Schake, Fmr Prin Dep Director, State Dept Policy Planning
Wayne Schroeder, Fmr Dep Under Secretary of Defense
Amb. Gregory Schulte, Fmr NSC Executive Secretary
Robert Shanks, Fmr Dep Asst Attorney General
Amb. Thomas Shannon, Fmr Under Secretary of State
John Simon, Fmr Senior Director, NSC Staff
Stephen Slick, Fmr Senior Director, NSC Staff
Timothy Stratford, Fmr Asst US Trade Representative
Miles Taylor, Fmr Chief of Staff, Dept of Homeland Security
Amb. William Taft, Fmr Deputy Secretary of Defense
Shirin Tahir-Kheli, Fmr Special Asst to the President
William Tobey, Fmr Dep Administrator, Nat Nuclear Security Admin
Jack Tomarchio, Fmr Princ Dep Under Secretary of Homeland Security
Olivia Troye, Fmr Special Advisor to the Vice President
Amb. Robert Tuttle, Fmr US Ambassador to the United Kingdom
John Veroneau, Fmr Dep US Trade Representative
Ken Wainstein, Fmr Homeland Security Advisor
Thomas Ward, Fmr Director of Threats, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
Matthew Waxman, Fmr Prin Dep Director, State Dept Policy Planning
William Webster, Fmr Director of the CIA and FBI
Wendell Willkie II, Fmr General Counsel, Dept of Commerce
John Woodworth, Fmr Dep Asst Secretary of Defense
John Wolf, Fmr Asst Secretary of State
Dov Zakheim, Fmr Under Secretary of Defense
Philip Zelikow, Fmr Counselor of the Dept of State
