[ad_1]
WASHINGTON – President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s national security team is likely to be largely made up of former Obama Situation Room regulars ready to restore the foreign policy principles discarded by President Trump.
An Obama redux would be a source of enormous relief to establishment insiders, who are desperate to see expert hands regain control of national security. But that likelihood is also causing concern among some younger, more liberal Democrats, impatient with their party’s pre-Trump national security instincts, which they consider downright outdated.
Obviously it is Mr. Biden who will direct the policy: as a former vice president and chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, he needs expert advice in foreign policy far less than his recent predecessors. But it will also be consumed in its first few months by the coronavirus and its economic agenda, potentially giving its key appointees unusual influence.
They are almost certain to include Antony Blinken, a deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser under Obama who previously worked for Mr. Biden in the Senate; Avril Haines, a deputy at Obama’s Central Intelligence Agency and his National Security Council; Susan E. Rice, Obama’s last National Security Advisor; and Michèle Flournoy, the Pentagon’s top political official under Obama.
“I think pretty much everyone who gets nominated will have served under Obama,” said James Mann, author of books on Obama’s foreign policy advisers and former President George W. Bush.
Although their collective resumes are impeccable by Council on Foreign Relations standards, some insiders and party analysts say Biden’s waiting team may be too cautious and conventional-minded at a time when rebels and party activists issues such as Israel, military spending and counter-terrorism operations in the Middle East and North Africa are challenging democratic orthodoxy.
For some they are representative of what Obama’s former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes famously derided as “The Blob” – a Washington foreign policy system too confident in American hegemony and too willing to resort to power.
They also complain about their business connections, noting that Mr. Blinken and Ms. Flournoy founded the Washington-based consulting firm WestExec in 2017, whose slogan was “Bring the Situation Room to the Board Room.” His list of current and former employees is a who’s-who of likely Biden nominees that includes Ms. Haines, former principal.
“They’re bringing in the usual suspects. There are no new faces here, “said John Mearsheimer, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and a frequent critic of Washington’s foreign policy elites.” And to the extent that there are new faces and younger people, they sound right. like the usual suspects. “
Most of the people around Biden represent a risk-averse, center-left approach to foreign policy, said Mr. Mearsheimer, who envisions a more active role for US economic, diplomatic and, in some cases, military power than many ranks. -e-file favor of the Democrats.
Biden’s early national security appointments are likely to run counter to those of Obama, who took office after a few years in Washington and with only a handful of foreign policy aides under his wing. For his national security advisor, Obama chose a retired Marine general, James L. Jones, whom he had only met once. The relationship never took place and Mr. Jones was gone in less than two years.
But Mr. Biden will be surrounded by very familiar faces, starting with Mr. Blinken, 58, an aide who has worked for him since 2002, when he became the Director of Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Biden was chairman. Mr. Blinken, a wavy-haired rock and jazz enthusiast with harmonious mannerisms in classic diplomatic style, may aspire to become the secretary of state, although some predict that Mr. Biden will want his confidant in the West Wing as an adviser to the national security.
Another high-ranking candidate to head the State Department was Ms. Rice, with whom Mr. Biden spent countless hours in the Situation Room and almost chose to be his running mate.
But its prospects seem weaker now that Republicans can retain control of the Senate. Ms. Rice was a special target of Republicans in Congress, accused of dishonestly downplaying terrorism as the motive for the 2012 deadly attack on a US compound in Benghazi, Libya, when she was ambassador to the United Nations. Their obsession with the episode – which some Ms. Rice allies attribute to sexism and racism – convinced Obama in 2013 to appoint his National Security Advisor, a job that does not require Senate confirmation, and not Secretary of State. been as it originally had. planned.
An alternative is Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a close ally of Mr. Biden who holds his former seat in the Senate and has been an active member of the Foreign Relations Committee. By temperament and ideology, Mr. Coons, a Democrat, is a relatively moderate respected by his Republican colleagues and could be much easier to confirm.
Mr. Biden could also choose from a handful of career diplomats who have served in both the Democratic and Republican administrations, bringing them bipartisan credibility. They include Bill Burns, a longtime senior State Department official who served as deputy secretary of state under Obama and now head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Nicholas Burns (no relative), another longtime former diplomat who held top positions in the Bush Administration. Both men may be in line for other senior diplomatic jobs as ambassadors.
Ms. Haines is a likely choice to lead the CIA Some progressives complain that she was not a more active criticism of the agency’s torture practices during the Bush era, but Obama officials say she supported containment of the attacks with drones against terrorists who were causing civilian casualties. Ms. Haines understands the agency without being a prisoner of her views, according to one of her Obama White House admirers. An alternative would be Michael Morell, former deputy and acting director of the CIA.
Ms. Flournoy is the intended choice to run the Pentagon. Respected by Republicans, it would most likely encounter little confirmatory resistance. But Mr. Biden may prefer someone with more political experience than the brawny military strategist, particularly given the potential battles with liberals demanding big defense cuts that Ms. Flournoy would likely resist.
Another contender for defense secretary or attorney general is Jeh C. Johnson, a former Defense Department general counsel who as Secretary of National Security under Obama already headed a cabinet department. His old job could go to Lisa Monaco, who helped Mr. Biden check out his potential running mates during the campaign.
The ambassador to the United Nations has often been a stepping stone for promising or growing figures, someone like Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., Who is said to be interested in the post and not serving in the Obama administration. Although never exercising diplomacy, the multilingual Mr. Buttigieg served as a naval officer in Afghanistan and spoke more deeply about foreign policy than most Democratic presidential candidates of 2020.
More high-level positions are likely to go to Brian McKeon, who first worked for Mr. Biden when he was a senator in the 1980s and held a prominent Pentagon role in the Obama administration, and Carlyn Reichel, who wrote foreign policy speeches for him when he was vice president and who coordinated his external foreign policy advisers during the campaign.
Obama’s second National Security Advisor, Tom Donilon, has known Biden since the 1980s and served as an advisor on his campaign. He emerged as a specialist in China and a former Obama official wondered if he could become an ambassador to Beijing or possibly take on a high-level role in the secret service. Some believe that Mr. Donilon, whose brother Mike is Mr. Biden’s chief political strategist, would like to be secretary of state.
John Kerry, Obama’s second secretary of state, was a contemporary in Biden’s Senate, campaigned for him during the primary and, even at the age of 76, is presumed to maintain his inexhaustible hunger for political scrum. Some admirers see him as a potential climate czar – global warming has become his root cause – or perhaps a special envoy at some foreign crisis point.
A big question is what will become of Jake Sullivan, who was Mr. Biden’s National Security Advisor before he became aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Long spoken of as a future National Security Advisor, Sullivan has a foreign policy background but has been coordinating domestic affairs for the campaign since the March coronavirus outbreak. If he doesn’t move into a country-oriented job, Mr. Sullivan, 43, would be natural for a senior national security post.
The report was provided by Katie Benner, Lara Jakes, David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt.
Source link
