By Maria Ortiz
23 Jul 2024, 22:36 PM EDT
More than 350 foreign policy and national security experts have endorsed Vice President Harris for President of the United States in the 2024 election, calling her “the best-equipped person to lead our nation as Commander in Chief.”
The endorsement came in a letter signed by former national security advisers, secretaries of state, defense secretaries, ambassadors and senior intelligence officials, Harris’ campaign said in a press release.
The support of these senior officials and foreign policy experts can have a particularly significant weight Because before the vice presidency, Harris did not focus much on foreign policy and is better known for her domestic initiatives.
But officials said that Harris’s work on the world stage as vice president has been extensive and substantial.
Leaders and experts cited Harris’s “extraordinary” record in both diplomacy and “national security leadership as vice president,” working in tandem with President Biden to restore America’s global leadership and address high-stakes global conflicts, including U.S. responses to Russia’s war on Ukraine and the U.S. defense of Israel when Iran attacked it in April 2024, as well as U.S. strikes against al-Qaeda leaders.
They also noted that Vice President Harris brings “more national security experience than the four presidents before President Biden.”
The letter also contrasts Harris’ record with the isolationist leanings of Republican candidates former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.
Signatories include former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, former National Security Advisers Tom Donilon and Susan Rice, former Defense Secretaries Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and hundreds of others.
Having met with more than 150 world leaders and visited 21 countries over the past three and a half years to advance U.S. interests around the world, Everyone agrees that Vice President Harris “will be a strong and effective leader from day one as president.”
Harris “has the judgment, experience, and personal relationships with foreign leaders necessary to succeed. She will always stand up to dictators and support our allies and partners. She is more than qualified and would make an extraordinary commander in chief,” said former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.
“This letter arrived in less than 24 hours across many communities from national security and foreign policy leaders who were excited to show their support for Vice President Harris…”, said Emily Horne, former spokesperson for the National Security Council and one of the organizers of the letter.
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