WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton on Wednesday again defended her handling of classified information as President Obama's secretary of state, asserting she did not endanger national security when she discussed sensitive topics on her personal email account—to include the administration's covert drone program.
The Democratic presidential nominee, speaking back-to-back with her Republican opponent Donald Trump during a national security forum in New York City, also was forced to defend past comments expressing regret for having voted to invade Iraq in 2003 and her later support for U.S. military intervention in Libya. She asked voters to assess her preparedness to be commander in chief "based on the totality of my record."
Throughout the one-hour forum, Clinton and Trump fielded questions on a variety of national security, military affairs and veterans' issues. Some of those questions came directly from the military veterans attending the event, which was organized by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and held at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. The showdown came as Clinton and Trump have ramped up attacks against one another's fitness to lead the world's most potent military.
Though the two candidates never shared the stage, it was the first event to feature the two major party presidential nominees ahead of the Nov. 8 general election. Moderator Matt Lauer, host of NBC's "The Today Show," asked the majority of questions.
Clinton sought to present herself as even-tempered, reliable and methodically prepared. Trump, meanwhile, cast himself as a cautious but hard-nosed outsider optimally suited to confront the nation's myriad threats. Earlier in the day, he delivered a hawkish speech outlining several specific plans for building a more robust military.
"I would be very, very cautious," about putting troops in harms way, Trump said at the forum, adding of Clinton: "I think I would be much slower. If you look, she has a happy trigger. If you look, she votes for the wars."
Asked about the most important quality for a commander in chief, Clinton said "Steadiness, an absolute rock steadiness, mixed with strength to make the hard decisions."
Military veterans listen to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the NBC Commander-In-Chief Forum on Wednesday. (Andrew Harnik/AP)
Lauer asked both candidates to outline their qualifications and to not attack their opponents. Clinton veered from the proviso to attack Trump for feuding with the father of a fallen soldier who spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
Trump, who went second, was more aggressive, attacking Clinton and President Obama on multiple fronts — and disputing her claim that he also supported going to war in Iraq.
On veterans issues, Clinton vowed to hold weekly Oval Office meetings to fix lingering problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs, acknowledged the problem of veterans suicide and touted her plans to address veterans mental health — a strategy she devised working with veterans support groups.
She pledged not to let the VA be privatized — as did Trump.
Though the FBI concluded hostile actors could have hacked Clinton's email, she said that despite hacking incidents in the State Department and White House, and cybersecurity deficiencies in the government overall, "There is no evidence my system was hacked."
On Iraq, Clinton doubled down on comments that her decision to go to Iraq was a mistake, and later pledged to never send ground troops into Iraq or Syria. Instead she would use air power and support local forces to defeat the Islamic State group, a strategy consistent with Obama's.
"We have to defeat ISIS, we have to do it with air power and support for local allies," Clinton said. "They are not going to get ground troops. We are not going to put ground troops into Iraq ever again. We are not going to put ground troops into Syria."
On the use of force in general, she said she viewed it a last resort and not a first choice.
The former first lady said she would do "everything in my power to" prevent attacks on U.S. soil. To that end, she is seeking an "intelligence surge" that includes better intelligence sharing and cooperation with Silicon Valley to target ISIS and other terror groups.
On the Iran nuclear deal, which Clinton took part in as secretary of state, she said the agreement put a lid on the country's nuclear program, but said she was concerned about its other activities. Lauer asked if the U.S. was being played by Iran.
"On the nuclear issue, no," she said. "We have enough information to say we have to distrust and verify."
Asked what qualified him to be president, Trump attacked Obama, saying the president has squandered the United States' reputation, and he pointed to his experience as a businessman.
"The main thing is I have great judgement; I know what's going on," he said "I've called the shots."
Asked to explain a previous statement in which he claimed to know more about ISIS than America's current stable of military commanders, Trump said that active-duty generals, "have been reduced to rubble." Lauer also asked him to explain his assertion that the military's senior ranks had risen through political correctness.
"I have great faith in the military, I have faith in certain leaders certainly, but I have no faith in Hillary Clinton or the leadership," Trump said. "When she comes in and says we need to change this, she's been there for thirty years. We need change, Matt. We have to have it fast."
Later, Trump said he had a constellation of high ranking officers advising him, and noted the presence of former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Mike Flynn, his most prominent prior-service supporter.
On Iraq, Trump asserted that the U.S. should have taken Iraqi oil. That, he said, would have prevented the inception of ISIS, "which was formed with the power and the wealth of that oil." To have done so, Trump would have left behind an unspecified residual force.
On ISIS, Trump was asked to reconcile his conflicting assertions: That he did not want to reveal his plans to defeat the terror group, and that he would give his top generals 30 days to send him a plan.
"Is the plan you've been hiding asking someone else for their plan," Lauer said, saying later: "You're going to convene a panel of generals, and you've already said you know more than those generals."
Replied Trump: "They're probably going to be different generals."
Asked if he would be ready on Day One to tackle complex national security issues, Trump used the question to attack Clinton for supporting military intervention in Libya, calling the ensuing chaos there evidence of her "terrible mistake."
"I've found these subjects of interest all of my life, Matt, these haven't been the last 14 months," Trump said. "They were asking me about Iraq 14 years ago."
Email: jgould@defensenews.com
Twitter: @reporterjoe
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
