Jeb Bush's foreign policy advisers
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is beefing up his foreign policy bona fides with a substantial batch of defense and national security experts.
A Bush aide tells CBS News that he has gathered a "preliminary and informal group" committed to supporting and advising him as he considers pursuing the Republican presidential nomination.
Bush has recruited several cabinet members from his father's and brother's administrations, including James Baker, George H.W. Bush's secretary of state, and Michael Chertoff, the nation's second homeland security secretary under George W. Bush.
Information about his foreign policy advisers comes as the former Florida governor arrives in Illinois to address the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Bush plans to distance himself from the presidential legacies of his father and brother -- a policy inheritance that would include politically divisive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I recognize that as a result, my views will often be held up in comparison to theirs-- sometimes in contrast to theirs," Bush will say, according to speech excerpts. "I love my father and my brother. I admire their service to the nation and the difficult decisions they had to make. But I am my own man - and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences."
Still, those who will be helping to shape Bush's thinking come from the ranks from those who have also advised the former Bush presidents, CBS News reports.
In addition to Baker and Chertoff, Bush has also recruited Stephen Hadley, who served as President George W. Bush's national security adviser, and Tom Ridge, the first homeland security secretary. They are among over twenty advisers who have thrown in their hat with the Florida governor.
Among them, some other notable names:
-Porter Gross, CIA Director during George W. Bush's post-9/11 years
-Paul Wolfowitz, former deputy defense secretary and former World Bank president
-George Schultz, secretary of state under former President Reagan
-John Hannah, a former staffer to Vice President Dick Cheney
During his speech in President Obama's hometown, Bush also attacks the sitting Commander-in-Chief on foreign policy.
"Hashtag campaigns replace actual diplomacy and engagement," Bush will say. "With grandiosity, they announce resets and disengage."
He also emphasized the need for a stronger military. "Having a military that is equal to any threat...makes it less likely that we will need to put our men and women in uniform in harm's way," Bush announces. "Fundamentally, that weakness invites war... and strength encourages peace."