Several Republicans are among a group of former cabinet officers, senior officials and career military officers who denounced Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump yesterday, calling his recent remarks on Nato (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and Russia "disgraceful".
The open letter, released first to the Washington Post, takes issue with Trump statements that appear to question the alliance, encourage Russia to hack and release Hillary Clinton's deleted State Department emails, and seem to recognise Russia's annexation of Crimea, which the United States considers illegitimate.
"These are disgraceful statements that betray our longstanding values and national interests embraced by presidents of both parties," said the letter, signed by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former CIA director and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta.
"We find Trump's comments to be reckless, dangerous, and extremely unwise. They contradict a core, bipartisan principle found in every US administration - that our security in North America is indivisible with our democratic allies in Europe."
Signatories include Ian Brzezinski, who was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Europe and Nato policy in George W Bush's first term; Damon Wilson, a top Nato and European affairs adviser to Bush; and Randy Scheunemann, a neoconservative foreign policy figure.
