The public faces of national policy are the cabinet secretaries, agency chiefs and their immediate deputies. Some drew encouragement from the bipartisan opposition to Trump over national security that featured in the campaign. In the course of the campaign, dozens of national security and foreign policy officials from former Republican administrations pledged in open letters or public statements that they would not serve under Trump. In August, 50 Republican foreign policy and national security officials signed an open letter warning that Trump “would be the most reckless president in American history”. Yet outreach to career security officials is a key component of civil libertarian groups’ plan to constrain Trump.

Source: The Guardian November 11, 2016 13:57 UTC