President Trump’s proposal to drastically increase the Pentagon’s budget by more than $50 billion at the expense of funding some of our nation’s most important diplomatic, foreign policy, and national security tools is a travesty of morality and of common sense, and will only serve to make our country less safe. 

In addition to severe cuts to the State Department’s budget, Trump wants to slash EPA and U.N. funding. These moves will not only impede our efforts to mitigate humanitarian crises raging around the world, but it will also relinquish American leadership on key diplomatic issues like combating climate change, all the while reverting the U.S. back to the military-first approach of the Bush-era. 

Today’s biggest national security challenges: famine, refugees, climate change and even terrorism, cannot be met with military force alone. But don’t take it from me; more than 120 retired generals and admirals have urged Trump against cutting funding for diplomacy. And as the current Secretary of Defense, Gen. James Mattis, once said: “If you don’t fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition.” 

Rebecca Henry

Biddeford