Fifty senior Republican national security officials, including former cabinet members to former President George W. Bush, warned Monday in an open letter that Donald Trump "would be the most reckless president in American history," the New York Times reported.
The signatories of the open letter criticized Trump’s lack of "characters, values, and experience" to serve as the U.S. commander in chief and would be a "dangerous" leader who "would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being."
"Mr. Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding of America’s vital national interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances, and the democratic values on which U.S. foreign policy must be based," the signatories wrote.
"Unlike previous presidents who had limited experience in foreign affairs, Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself. He continues to display an alarming ignoring of basic facts of contemporary international politics," they added.
The GOP national security officials included Michael Hayden, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency; John Negroponte, former director of national intelligence and deputy secretary of state; and Brian Gunderson, the former chief of staff at the State Department.
All 50 signatories vowed not to vote for Trump, though they later wrote that many Americans "have doubts about Hillary Clinton."
In March, more than 100 Republican national security experts signed a similar letter projecting that Trump’s presidency would make the U.S. less safe and would "diminish" America’s standing in the world.
Many of the latest signatories refused to sign the March letter, but changed their minds after Trump called for Russia to hack into Clinton’s private email server and declared that he would not automatically defend NATO allies if they were attacked, the New York Times noted.
The national security experts concluded that Trump "is unable or unwilling to separate truth from falsehood" and "lacks self-control."
"All of these are dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be president and commander in chief, with command of the U.S. nuclear arsenal," they wrote.