The Steady State is a group of over 200 national security professionals, who joined together in March of 2020 in support of then-candidate Joe Biden. We served throughout our country’s national security infrastructure, as intelligence officers, defense policy makers, diplomats, and Congressional staffers. Some of us are from the Republican Party, some are from the Democratic Party and some are Independents. We have served our country during Democratic and Republican administrations. Our personal politics never entered the calculus of our actions or the execution of our duties.
On January 6, 2021, President Trump sent insurgents to the Capitol to try to stop the peaceful transfer of power, the certification of the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden. He incited the violence at the United States Capitol, and urged on the rioters. Mr. Trump is unfit to occupy the office of the Presidency of the United States. He must be removed.
We call on the Vice President and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment tonight. If they don’t invoke immediately, the Congress must impeach, convict and remove Donald J. Trump from the Presidency. Now.
The Steady State was formed in March of 2020 by former national security professionals in support of then-candidate Joe Biden. The members of The Steady State are U.S. national security officials, having served throughout our country’s national security infrastructure, as intelligence officers, defense policy makers, diplomats, and Congressional staffers. We come from the Republican Party, and the Democratic Party; some of us are Independents, and we have served our country during Democratic and Republican administrations. Our personal politics never entered the calculus of our actions or the execution of our duties.
This diverse group came together to endorse now President-elect Joe Biden because the alternative was a proven danger to the country. We watched in dismay over the last four years as U.S. national security was damaged and our long-standing alliances were weakened. We saw the credibility of our country and our standing in the world diminished. The foundations of our democracy, as well as our international status and influence was badly shaken. The Biden administration offers a new beginning, and The Steady State will take part in the rebuilding of our damaged national policies.
Before the election, members of The Steady State wrote and spoke about U.S. national security and the danger the current administration posed to our security and our democracy. With Joe Biden’s election to President, The Steady State will work to help the new administration restore trust in public service, functioning government and confidence in the United States on the global scale.
The Steady State will be driven by national interests rather than political goals; we will not advocate for or against specific policies of the Biden or any other administration. We will publish, speak, and educate on issues that reinforce strong national security and representative democracy. These include rule of law, free and fair elections, transparent political and economic policymaking, policies based in science and medical research, presidential support for the bureaucracies and public servants, and government run by professionals. We expect truth from the members of our three branches of government and will write and speak against the division and demagoguery we have seen for the last four years.
Over 80 million Americans voted for the Biden-Harris ticket. It is in everyone’s interest that Biden succeeds in governing, since it will only benefit the country. Governing success is defined simply as solving national issues, which in today’s world include conquering the COVID 19 virus through science, putting our economy back on solid ground; solving issues rooted in racial and income inequality; reestablishing long-term alliances; strengthening the rule of law, ensuring free and fair elections; and attacking the crisis of climate change. Each of these challenges has a significant national security component. Members of The Steady State will work to help the incoming Biden administration succeed, using our expertise in national security issues to write and speak in support of realistic, expert-based, honest answers to the array of complex problems the country faces at this time.
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.