Harris' foreign policy is a work in progress: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, we dive into the type of commander in chief Vice President Kamala Harris would be. Plus, senior national political reporter Sahil Kapur looks at how Sen. Mark Kelly's stance on border issues could benefit Harris if she chose him as her running mate.

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Harris’ foreign policy is a work in progress

By Courtney Kube, Dan De Luce, Andrea Mitchell, Abigail Williams and Carol E. Lee

How Vice President Kamala Harris, now the de facto Democratic nominee, would lead the country as commander in chief remains an open question.

Interviews with nearly three dozen current and former U.S. officials who have worked with Harris and her team on foreign policy issues, as well as a review of her voting record in the Senate and her public comments, offer limited clues to how she would respond to some high-stakes national security challenges facing the U.S.

President Joe Biden has an extensive foreign policy record from his decades in political office, and former President Donald Trump has his own record from serving four years as commander in chief.

Harris’ lack of a clear record on foreign policy issues — and no definitive doctrine — is a marked difference and potentially opens a front in the battle over voters’ national security concerns in the 2024 campaign.

Critics say Harris’ reticence is a sign that she lacks both a foreign policy vision and deep expertise. Supporters say that she treaded carefully because she did not want to disagree