National Security and Homeland Security Veterans:  

Statement Endorsing Vice President Biden for President 2020 

The undersigned have served in various capacities in the U.S. National Security and Homeland Security Communities. As Intelligence Officers, defense policy makers, diplomats and Congressional staffers, we have served the country during Democratic and Republican administrations.  Some of us are lifelong Democrats; others, Republicans; some resolutely independent.

We write to endorse Vice President Joe Biden for President of the United States.

Our nation’s foreign affairs are in disarray; our alliances frayed, and our national prestige declining.  Our approach to both friends and enemies abroad has been chaotic and unprincipled. Our credibility as a nation has been lessened.  And, perhaps most importantly, our place in the world as a source of moral leadership has nearly been lost. As a country, we are increasingly less secure and less safe.

To be clear, those of us signing this letter do not agree on everything, or even most things, concerning foreign policy, defense or homeland security.  Our policy views cover most of the spectrum, and many of us have often been in opposition, sometimes bitterly, with each other. But we have always been bound by profound patriotism, and a deep belief in our American democracy. 

But the course of events since the 2016 Presidential election has been deeply troubling.  It is not just policy differences. President Trump, and his approach to leadership at home and abroad, has created an existential danger to the United States, its place in the world, and the values we share.  His reelection would continue this downward spiral, and will likely have catastrophic results. Democracy itself is at stake.

We believe that Joe Biden has the best chance, of all the Democratic candidates, to ensure that Donald Trump does not continue as President for four more years, and for that reason alone would endorse him.  But we also believe that, of the candidates, he is best suited to reverse the course of American national security decline. We endorse him because we believe our Country is in grave danger, and Vice President Biden represents the best chance of surviving that danger, reversing course, and rebuilding a strong, safe and democratic America that is a global leader.

We are not, of course, giving up our views and approaches to national security; should Vice President Biden be elected President, many of us will take up the honorable position of “loyal opposition,” and will fight as we have before for the policies we think best.  But now, and today, it is necessary to put aside our differences, and our party affiliations, and voice our support for Vice President Biden.