Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that there is a possibility that Donald Trump’s unconventional experience would also allow the future of commander-in-chief, who has never held public office before, to craft a workable coalition. | Getty Panetta: Trump could be an 'unmitigated disaster' on foreign policy

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned that President-elect Donald Trump needs to abandon his haphazard approach to foreign policy if he wants to avoid an “unmitigated disaster,” although he offered a note of optimism that Trump's atypical experience could be a benefit for the new administration.

“We have a lot of dangerous flash points that are out there. And the next president of the United States can't run away from those flash points or hide from them,” Panetta said on MSNBC on Wednesday, pointing to Trump’s past statements on nuclear weapons and NATO. “The next president of the United States is going to have to face it. And I think everybody recognizes that, you know, we have one of two possibilities for the future. Donald Trump could be an unmitigated disaster.”


Panetta, who also served as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, said that there is a possibility that Trump’s unconventional experience would also allow the future of commander-in-chief, who has never held public office before, to craft a workable coalition.

“He could very well put together the right kind of coalition that could help this country govern itself in the next four years,” Panetta said. “That is going to be a huge challenge facing this next president.”

During the Republican primaries and the general election, Trump veered off the traditional U.S. foreign policy on NATO, where he said current members must pay up for the protection offered by the U.S. He also has expressed an openness to nuclear proliferation — which is a break with current policy.