Donald Trump on Monday finally named several members of his team of foreign policy advisers in a meeting with The Washington Post's editorial board, also laying out a global posture starkly at odds with longstanding U.S. policy. The names he provided for his advisory team ended weeks of questions about who forms the Republican front-runner's brain trust on global affairs. But the group's lack of boldface Washington names and clear policymaking track records means there are still unanswered questions about the international direction they would hope to lead the country in. They also don't clarify the GOP candidate's broader global vision, as some have taken positions contrary to those he has articulated on the campaign trail. Trump told the Post that he wants to reduce American commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a pillar of relations with Europe, and challenged the benefit of American military investment in Asia, one of the world's fastest-growing economic regions. Trump detailed the position and his foreign policy team just hours before his first major foreign policy test -- a speech before the annual 18,000-strong American Israel Public Affairs Committee gathering in Washington. Speaking alongside his Democratic and Republican rivals, Trump will have to display a grasp of substance on issues within Israel, such as the peace process and and Israel's qualitative military edge, and in the region, including Iran's nuclear program. In doing so, he could provide an initial sense of how this new group of advisers will shape Trump's world view. "If he does not make this foreign policy advisers group look good by what's in that speech," political strategist Angela Rye told CNN, "I think he's got a problem." Comparing the unglamorous business of crafting a foreign policy to sausage-making, Rye added that for Trump, the test is that "it's about knowing what to put in the sausage as well." Trump began unveiling a little of his expertise in an interview with CNN on Monday, arguing that NATO allies must contribute more to the system of collective defense, a position President Barack Obama's administration has pursued and acknowledged frustration with allies on. "We are paying disproportionately" for the 28-member alliance, Trump told Wolf Blitzer on Monday. The U.S. is NATO's main contributor, providing about 22% of the organization's budget. Germany is second, contributing 14.5%, followed by France, which gives 11% of the budget, and then the UK at 10.5%. All members agree to spend at least 2% of GDP on their defense budget, but some don't meet that threshold. On Monday, Trump told Blitzer that "there has to be at least a change in philosophy and there also has to be a change in the cut up, the money, the spread" of NATO's budget. He added that he didn't want the U.S. to "decrease its role, but certainly decrease it's spending" in NATO, which marks its 67th anniversary in April. "We can't afford to do all of this anymore," Trump said. "That was a different time a different age." Trump's team of foreign policy advisers, led by Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, consists of counter-terrorism expert Walid Phares, energy consultant George Papadopoulos, former Defense Department inspector general Joe Schmitz, managing partner of Global Energy Capital Carter Page and former Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks confirmed the names to CNN. "And I have quite a few more," Trump told the Post's editorial board, without offering details. "But that's a group of some of the people that we are dealing with. We have many other people in different aspects of what we do. But that's pretty representative group." Later at a Washington news conference on Monday, Trump said, "I have a team, we actually have a very good team," calling it, "a top-of-the-line team." None of the men on Trump's list are leading figures in the Republican foreign policy establishment. Many of the latter group came out publicly against a Trump presidency in a March letter that declared he would make "America less safe" and that he was "utterly unfitted to the office" of president. One challenge Trump faces is that at this stage of the campaign, he doesn't have a large pool to draw from, Matt Lewis, a CNN political commentator and senior contributor for The Daily Caller, told CNN. "It's tough for Donald Trump," Lewis said. Describing Trump's advisers as "smart, serious people," Lewis added that, "You're either going to choose people who weren't at the upper, upper echelon, or people who are associated with the George W. Bush era," who Lewis said are known for "nation-building and adventurism." Another option for Trump, Lewis suggested, would be to go with Democrats. Trump supporter John Phillips, a KABC radio host, said that the real estate mogul will have no trouble fielding talented help

• published: 22 Mar 2016
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