A leading voice on American foreign policy as a member of the Armed Services Committee and the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen is committed to strengthening our international alliances and keeping Americans safe.
In response to Russian interference in the 2016 election, she worked with Republicans to hold the Kremlin accountable, co-sponsoring and negotiating sanctions authority for Congress and re-establishing the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group to fortify our alliances and help combat Russian influence on American allies. On the Armed Services Committee, Jeanne led efforts to sound the alarm about Kaspersky Labs, a Russian-owned company whose software could be used to hack the U.S. government, leading to a U.S. government-wide ban on that software. After Russian President Vladimir Putin banned her from Russia for her tough stand against Russian attempts to interfere in our elections and hack U.S. government computers, Republican and Democratic Senators stood with Jeanne in solidarity and support of her work.
Jeanne has worked with Republican colleagues to fight for tough action against ISIS terrorists in Syria, including those responsible for the murder of New Hampshire journalist James Foley. When Americans have been imprisoned abroad without justification, Jeanne has worked with Republicans, the State Department, the Department of Defense and the White House to secure their freedom and bring them home. When an American missionary, Pastor Andrew Brunson, was arrested and imprisoned in Turkey, Jeanne worked with Republicans to secure his release. She negotiated with the Turkish President for his freedom and visited him in prison with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). He was released and returned home in October 2018. After Amer Fakhoury, a U.S. citizen and Dover business owner, was wrongly detained in Lebanon, his family contacted Jeanne, who teamed up with a Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the Trump Administration to secure his release in 2020 so he could return home.
