Foreign Policy and National Security
The United States can and should be a driving force around the world for freedom, human rights, and peace. This does not mean we should turn first to war and violence. Too many times, our first response to a foreign policy problem has been military action. Unilateral military interventions are counterproductive to our strategic goals and prolong violence and suffering. I support working together with the international community to find thoughtful diplomatic solutions for the complex issues facing our world.
I opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and I continue to oppose the broad authorization of military force that has operated as a blank check for military use for 15 years. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I will push for diplomatic solutions, increased foreign assistance, and the need to conduct robust congressional oversight. I support innovative responses to 21st century national security threats.
Click here to learn more about the bills that I introduced and cosponsored.
Read my op-ed in The New York Times on U.S. involvement in the unconstitutional war in Yemen.
Read my op-ed in The Los Angeles Times on developing a 21st century foreign policy.
More on Foreign Policy and National Security
Rep. Ro Khanna has one message for politicians who continue to suggest technology companies should give law enforcement agencies access to encrypted data: This is a power grab.
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Ro Khanna (CA-17), Vice Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Jim McGovern (MA-2), Chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) led over 50 of their colleagues in urging Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to release human rights activists, lawyers, journalists and other prisoners of conscience before their unjust imprisonments become death sentences in the face of massive COVID outbreaks in Egyptian prisons.
Egypt's authoritarian regime has jailed thousands of political opponents, human rights activists and pro-democracy lawyers, often on flimsy or trumped-up charges. That has triggered widespread condemnation, yet the jailings have continued.
Now congressional Democrats are signaling to Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi that human rights abuses will not be tolerated if Joe Biden wins the presidency next month.
Washington, DC – Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Member of Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Member of the House Armed Services and Oversight and Reform Committees, formally requested that the Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General (IG) investigate reports that the Pentagon redirected hundreds of millions of dollars of funds meant for COVID-19 response via the Defense Production Act (DPA) to defense contractors for “jet engine parts, body armor and dress uniforms.”
A pair of Democrats is asking the Pentagon’s internal watchdog to investigate how the department used $1 billion in coronavirus relief funds.
In a Friday letter to the Pentagon’s inspector general, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) asked the watchdog to “review the potential misuse of funds by the department that were meant 'to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally.’ ”
Washington, DC – Representatives Ro Khanna (CA-17), Vice Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Adam Smith (WA-09), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, today issued the following statement:
The Democratic-held House is taking another stab at ending US support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The House Armed Services Committee voted 31-25 Wednesday to add language to a key defense authorization bill that would ban the Donald Trump administration from using funds to provide the Saudi coalition with logistical support in its war against the Houthis.