This post has been updated.
A group of former top State Department and national security officials submitted a filing Monday warning that President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily suspending the U.S. refugee program and barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries could threaten the United States’ national security.
The filing, signed by former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Madeleine Albright, was filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal judge blocked the President’s order.
In the filing, the officials argued that the order is unnecessary and could actually have a negative impact on U.S. national security. The officials maintained that the order will “endanger U.S. troops in the field,” interfere with “key counterterrorism, foreign policy, and national security partnerships” and “endanger intelligence sources in the field,” among other potential issues.
“There is no national security purpose for a total bar on entry for aliens from the seven named countries,” the officials wrote, noting that the majority of attacks on American soil “have been committed by U.S. citizens.”
They also argued that there is no “rational basis for exempting from the ban particular religious minorities,” suggesting that Trump’s order targets Muslims.
In addition to Albright and Kerry, the officials who signed onto the filing include former CIA and national security officials Michael Hayden, Avril Haines, Michael Morrell, Leon Panetta and Susan Rice.
Read the brief below: