Issue Position: Protecting Our National Security

Issue Position

I've spent much of my career working in the U.S. State Department and the National Security Council to keep America strong, safe, and respected.

For decades under presidents of both parties, America has built alliances with countries that share our democratic values and that have helped us prevent war, build prosperity and solve global problems. President Trump is turning his back on those alliances and on the ideals that underpin them. In Congress, I will be a strong voice for preserving principled American leadership around the world.

We must maintain a strong military to deter potential adversaries, but also strong diplomacy so that we don't have to use our military all of the time. I will support our State Department and our front line diplomats, making sure they have the funding they need to do their jobs.

I will champion trade policies that are fair to American workers and businesses, and tough on countries like China that violate the rules of the global trading system. But I oppose starting trade wars with our closest allies, which cost American jobs and make goods more expensive for American consumers, while threatening the friendships and alliances that keep us safe.

I will insist that we keep our commitments to NATO and maintain sanctions on Russia until it stops its aggression in Ukraine and interference in our democracy. Russia should be readmitted to the G-7, and its government afforded the respect it craves, only when its behavior changes.

I believe the United States must continue to stand by Israel, and that we should work with our allies to maintain pressure on Iran to dismantle its nuclear program, while increasing pressure to stop Iran's support for terrorism and missile development. Our policy should be to isolate Iran, not ourselves -- a break with our allies on this issue endangers both America and Israel.

I will urge deterrence, sanctions and diplomacy to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea, and make sure we keep funding an effort that I ran at the State Department to spread information to the North Korean people.

Congress has abdicated its responsibility to authorize and oversee military operations overseas. I will do my part to provide that oversight, insisting that our counterterrorism efforts are focused on real threats to the United States and our closest allies, consistent with American values, and reinforced by programs that win friends, rather than merely killing enemies.

I will work to keep America a force for good in the world, aligned with countries that share our belief in defending human rights and fighting corruption, not with the dictators whom Trump envies and praises.

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