On May 22, 2020, Eliot L. Engel (Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs) and Adam Smith (Chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services) published their letter to Mike Pompeo and Mark T. Esper (Secretaries of the Department of State and Department of Defense, respectively) opposing the Trump administration’s “plans to withdraw . . . from the Treaty on Open Skies.” They noted that withdrawing from a treaty “without consultation with or notification to Congress . . . is in direct violation of Section 1234 of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.” The authors emphasized their belief that the treaty has enhanced the security of both the U.S. and other signatories, that withdrawing is not in the “best interests” of U.S. national security, and that the administration has not provided any evidence to the contrary to support its decision. They “demand[ed] an explanation for this intended illegal action and insist[ed] that the Administration comply with Section 1234.” A JURIST article summarizes the purpose of the treaty and the administration’s stated reasons for withdrawal.