Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has issued a sharp critique of the Trump administration’s handling of national security, with reference to Yemen war chat leaks involving the chief editor of the Atlantic, in an opinion piece published by The New York Times.
Clinton specifically condemns the reported use of unsecured commercial messaging platforms by top officials to share classified military plans, stating, “We’re all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don’t actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws. But we knew that already. What’s much worse is that top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That’s dangerous. And it’s just dumb,” she said.
Beyond cybersecurity concerns, Clinton points to broader policy failures, including the abrupt firing of hundreds of federal employees responsible for safeguarding the nation’s nuclear arsenal. “Firing hundreds of federal workers charged with protecting our nation’s nuclear weapons is also dumb. So is shutting down efforts to fight pandemics just as a deadly Ebola outbreak is spreading in Africa’ she added.
Throughout the NYT piece, Clinton advocates for a strategic approach to leadership, emphasizing the need for both military strength and diplomatic engagement. “In a dangerous and complex world, it’s not enough to be strong. You must also be smart,” she argues. “As secretary of state during the Obama administration, I argued for smart power, integrating the hard power of our military with the soft power of our diplomacy, development assistance, economic might and cultural influence. None of those tools can do the job alone. Together, they make America a superpower. The Trump approach is dumb power.”
The former Democratic presidential nominee also took aim at what she calls the administration’s ‘performative’ focus on cultural and ideological battles rather than meaningful policy decisions. “Mr. Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (of group chat fame) are apparently more focused on performative fights over wokeness than preparing for real fights with America’s adversaries,” she wrote. “Does anyone really think deleting tributes to the Tuskegee Airmen makes us more safe? The Trump Pentagon purged images of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb that ended World War II because its name is the Enola Gay. Dumb.”
Clinton also gave a warning throughout her writing that without a shift toward informed, strategic policymaking, the administration risks further alienating allies, emboldening adversaries, and weakening America’s global position.