70 national security, foreign policy experts condemn Hunter attack ad
Seventy current or former national security and foreign policy officials have signed a letter condemning a campaign ad by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, that attempts to link his Democratic opponent to radical Islamists.
Hunter, who has been charged with misusing campaign funds, is facing a stiff challenge from 29-year-old Democrat Ammar CampaNajjar in the 50th Congressional District. Although Campa-Najjar is Christian, Hunter has sought to tie him to radical Islam.
Hunter has repeatedly mentioned Campa-Najjar’s paternal grandfather, a member of the terrorist group that killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Campa-Najjar has condemned his grandfather’s actions and pointed out that he was born 16 years after his grandfather was killed by Israeli commandos in 1973.
Campa-Najjar has said he was raised by his Mexican-American single mother after his Palestinian father left the family.
Hunter’s ad, which is still on his campaign website, claims without evidence that Campa-Najjar is supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, says he is trying to “infiltrate Congress” and calls him “a risk we can’t ignore.”
“Campa-Najjar, like all of us, has served his country as a public official and worked on behalf of his fellow citizens with dedication and honor,” the letter said of the candidate, who worked for four years in the Obama administration and held a security clearance. “That’s precisely why the baseless allegation that he is somehow a ‘security threat’ is an affront to our professionalism as national security experts, our American values, and our collective national dignity.”
The letter was drafted and circulated by National Security Action, a Washington, D.C.based advocacy group cochaired by former Obama administration officials.
Signatories included veterans, diplomats, policymakers, former intelligence officers and politicians as local as Mark West, the mayor pro tem of Imperial Beach in San Diego County and a member of Vets for Ammar.
National Security Action began writing the letter once it saw the ad last week, said group spokesman Ned Price.
“You can contest the ad on the tactics behind it, these fearbased xenophobic tactics, but we wanted to contest it on grounds of national security experts coming together and affirming that just because someone’s grandfather took place in these acts doesn’t mean it reflects on that person,” said Price, a former National Security Council spokesman and signatory.
Most signatories were Obama administration officials, but a few worked for both Democratic and Republican administrations.
Despite Hunter’s indictment, a recent poll from the Monmouth University Polling Institute found Hunter was favored by eight points among potential voters in his inland San Diego County district.