Santorum Slams Obama for Foreign Policy "Failure"

(Fox News Photo/April Girouard)

On the same day President Obama is announcing changes to his national security team, potential presidential hopeful and former Senator Rick Santorum slammed the White House for appeasing its enemies and failing to advance U.S. national security interests.

"When a president...apologizes for our country and her immediate policies, we do not advance our security - we diminish our credibility," Santorum said at Washington's National Press Club Thursday afternoon, adding that President Obama "doesn't believe in American foreign policy" and is "trying to hide" from "political heat."

Best known for his outspoken conservative views on social issues, the Pennsylvania Republican served on the Senate Armed Services Committee and has been amplifying his criticism of the president's foreign policy in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Santorum announced that he was "testing the waters" for a presidential run.

"Nothing has illustrated the failure of President Obama's foreign policy more than how we have dealt with Iran," he said of Iranian dissidents. "We sided with evil because our president believes our enemies are legitimately aggrieved and thus we have no standing to intervene."

Santorum goes on to criticize the administration for "turn[ing] [its] back" on longtime U.S. ally and deposed Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, for causing a "no-win" "stalemate" in Libya, appeasing China's "militant socialism," and offering up an "olive branch" to "appease" America's enemies.

And though Santorum has been vocal about Congress' need to cut back on the federal budget, he cautioned against cutting military spending - arguing instead that funds cut from inefficient programs should be funneled to other military endeavors, not eliminated completely. "Earlier this month the President suggested deep cuts to our military," he said. "Wrong signal, wrong effort and wrong time."

The criticism comes as President Obama is expected to nominate CIA chief Leon Panetta as his new Secretary of Defense. It is widely speculated that Panetta, a former head of the Office of Management and Budget under Clinton, would be aggressive in cutting defense spending.Santorum declined to offer his view on what inefficient Department of Defense programs he would cut, promising that he would provide specifics if he makes a final decision to run for the presidency. The outspoken former Senator instead laid out a ten-point plan to restore American credibility in the international arena, including strengthening missile defense, increasing human intelligence operations in the Middle East, and "stand[ing] by Israel, especially at a time when it appears increasingly to be standing alone."

"[M]y sense from traveling the country is that...the American people...are bursting at the seams to have a leader who believes in them and our country again," he says.

Santorum will make his 15th trip to the early primary state of New Hampshire on Friday.