Former top officials write to White House opposing Greenland invasion

Driving the news: On Friday, Trump said once again that the U.S. needs "to take" Greenland if it doesn't want to have Russia or China as its "next door neighbor."

• He later said the U.S. would be "doing something with Greenland the nice way or the more difficult way."

The group behind the memo includes four former U.S. ambassadors to NATO, three former assistant secretaries of state for Europe, and three former White House Europe czars.

• The memo was sent to senior members of the Trump administration — including Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — as well as to members of Congress from both parties, in order to generate more pushback from the lawmakers.
• Phil Gordon, one of the signatories and formerly Vice President Kamala Harris' national security adviser, told Axios the idea was to stress Denmark's important role as an ally "and to note there are plenty of ways we can ensure our strategic and economic interests in Greenland without the threat or use of force."

What they're saying: "The current President's threats to use military force or other coercive measures to take Greenland away from our ally Denmark is strategically foolish in both the near and longer term," the memo reads.

• "Our adversaries are salivating at the opportunities that such a rupture would create for them to replace us. Our alliances are our single greatest geo-strategic advantage over competitors. Russia and China have nothing to compare," they write.

An invasion could destroy NATO and would turn one of the most pro-American countries in Europe against the U.S., the authors contend.

• They stress that Denmark has often been one of the first countries to respond to U.S. requests for support, during wars in Korea, the Balkans and Afghanistan, during counter-ISIS operations and up to the present day in terms of countering Russian and Chinese activities in the Arctic.
• "Looking to an uncertain future, Denmark is exactly the kind of ally we need, both bilaterally and within NATO," they write.
• The group recommends that instead of threats to take over Greenland by force, the administration should address the threats in the Arctic region through NATO and via cooperation with Denmark.

The authors are:

• Former U.S. ambassadors to NATO Nicholas Burns, Douglas Lute, Ivo Daalder and Julie Smith;

• Former White House and State Department officials Michael Carpenter, Eliot Cohen, Eric Edelman, Daniel Fried, Frank Kendall, Jon Finer, Phil Gordon, James O'Brien, Liz Sherwood-Randall and Thomas Wright.

The other side: Trump on Friday dismissed the idea that the U.S. make an agreement to secure Greenland short of making it a U.S. territory. "Countries have to have ownership. You defend ownership you don't defend leases," he said.

State of play: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer raised his concerns about Greenland in a phone call with Trump on Wednesday, and his deputy David Lammy did so in a meeting with Vance on Thursday.

• NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also raised Greenland in a call with Rubio on Friday. "They discussed the significance of Arctic security for all NATO Allies," State Department Deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
• Several U.S. officials, including Vance, have tried in the last 24 hours to de-escalate the rhetoric around Greenland. Danish officials say what matters to them is what Trump himself says.

What's next: Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his counterpart from Greenland, Vivian Motzfeldt, will visit Washington next week to meet Rubio and discuss the crisis.