To the Editor:

Re “As Russia Works to Weaken NATO, Trump Talks of a U.S. Withdrawal” (news article, Jan. 15):

Whether or not President Trump is an agent of Russia (a knowing agent or what the Soviets used to call a “useful idiot” who unwittingly did their bidding), the president’s expressed desire to pull the United States out of NATO furthers Russia’s aims. More important, it lacks reason, knowledge or sense and would harm this country.

No knowledgeable person in the United States believes it to be to our benefit to leave the alliance. Thus, whether or not the president is an agent of a foreign power, he is working against the interests of the nation he purports to lead. Short of handing over the nuclear codes, nothing could be worse.

Jonathan J. Margolis

Brookline, Mass.