Over 150 National Security Experts, Concerned Citizens Express Gratitude to Sen. Tom Cotton and Colleagues for Leadership on Iran ****
The Center for Security Policy has organized the sending of a letter to United States senators backing their stance on President Obama’s “framework agreement” with Iran. The text of the letter is below, included in a CSP press release.
Over 150 National Security Experts, Concerned Citizens Express Gratitude to Sen. Tom Cotton and Colleagues for Leadership on Iran
Washington, DC— Today, over 150 national security experts, former Senior military and government leaders, public policy practitioners and other American patriots have written to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and 46 other United States Senators. They expressed their gratitude for the letter they wrote to the Iran’s leaders serving notice on them that in accordance with the United States Constitution, any agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei reach on Iran’s nuclear program will be considered to be only an executive agreement that can be revoked by the next president or modified by congress — unless it is approved by the legislative branch.
The letter, organized by the Center for Security Policy, states in part:
“Given the chimerical nature of the so-called framework agreement — which is, at the moment, being characterized in wildly different ways by the various parties, raising profound uncertainty about the nature and extent of the commitments Iran is making, their actual value in preventing an Iranian nuclear weapons program, the timing and extent of sanctions relief, etc. — the need for congressional oversight, advice and consent concerning any accord that flows from that agreement can no longer responsibly be denied.“
“It would be a serious affront to the Constitution and to the American people were an agreement of this potentially enormous strategic consequence not to be submitted for such action by the Congress. Grievous insult would be added to injury should the United Nations Security Council instead be asked to approve it.”
Among the signatories of the letter were:
Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, USA (Ret.), Former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
Admiral James A. Lyons, USN (Ret.), Former Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet
Lt. Gen. Dave Deptula, USAF (Ret.), Former Chief, Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
Ambassador Henry F. Cooper, Former Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative, Chief U.S. Negotiator to the Geneva Defense and Space Talks
Ambassador Eric M. Javits (Ret.), PermRep and Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament, Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Hon. Joseph E. Schmitz, Former Inspector General of the Department of Defense
Andy McCarthy, Former Chief Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of New York
Hon. J. Kenneth Blackwell, Former U.S. Ambassador, U.N. Human Rights Commission
Lt. Col. M.L. “Buzz” Hefti, USMC (Ret.), Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Legislative Affairs
Kenneth deGraffenreid, Former Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy; Former Deputy National Counterintelligence Executive
Oliver “Buck” Revell, Former Associate Deputy Director — Investigations, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Chairman, Board of Directors, Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Gary Bauer, Christians United for Israel
Michael Ledeen, Freedom Scholar, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Matthew Brooks, Executive Director, Republican Jewish Coalition
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., President & CEO of the Center for Security Policy and a signatory to the letter, stated:
“Today, as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee considers whether the Senate must perform its constitutional duty as a check-and-balance on international agreements that can have far-reaching national security implications, it is to be hoped that the panel’s members will by guided by the open letter to the Iranian leadership signed by Senator Tom Cotton and forty-six of his colleagues. The appreciation expressed for that letter by over 150 Americans, who share a commitment to the common defense and concern about the defects of President Obama’s so-called ‘framework agreement,’ is a reminder that millions of our countrymen are counting on their elected representatives in Congress to perform quality-control on the executive branch’s deeply problematic conduct of the negotiations with Iran.”
The full text of the letter, with signatures, can be found below.
14 April 2015
Hon. Tom Cotton
United States Senate
B-33 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Cotton:
Each passing day seems to bring new and worrying revelations about the “framework agreement” that President Obama claims to have achieved with the Islamic Republic of Iran and five other nations. This “deal” is supposed to determine future restrictions on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The cumulative effect of these insights is a powerful affirmation of the effort you and forty-six of your Senate colleagues made last month to put the mullahs on notice that any such deal would require congressional assent. We write to commend you for taking this important initiative.
In particular, we want to thank you for the American civics lesson you gave the Iranian leaders with this cautionary note: “…We will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.” Your courageous warning bespoke a patriotic commitment to our Constitution and its separation of powers that is deeply appreciated.
Given the chimerical nature of the so-called framework agreement — which is, at the moment, being characterized in wildly different ways by the various parties, raising profound uncertainty about the nature and extent of the commitments Iran is making, their actual value in preventing an Iranian nuclear weapons program, the timing and extent of sanctions relief, etc. — the need for congressional oversight, advice and consent concerning any accord that flows from that agreement can no longer responsibly be denied.
It would be a serious affront to the Constitution and to the American people were an agreement of this potentially enormous strategic consequence not to be submitted for such action by the Congress. Grievous insult would be added to injury should the United Nations Security Council instead be asked to approve it.
Again we thank you for your leadership in ensuring that the constitutionally mandated process for assuring quality-control on international agreements is followed in this case. We urge you and your colleagues to insist on nothing less going forward.
cc: 46 other signatories of the Cotton Letter
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