End of Amateurism

23 November 2020

 

Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Biden Chooses Pros for Foreign Policy Team

 

President-Elect Joe Biden will be announcing some of his choices for his foreign policy team shortly. The names have already leaked, and the people chosen are foreign affairs experts with long histories of working in Washington. In short, they signal that the new administration is going to take multi-lateralism seriously, and it will work to undo the damage to America in the global system that the outgoing administration did. Put another way, the pros are back, and the amateurism is at an end.

The least surprising choice was Anthony Blinken to be Secretary of State. He and Mr. Biden have been together for years, and Mr. Blinken was one of Vice-President Biden's main advisers during the Obama presidency. Mr. Biden brought him to the Veep's office from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where Mr. Biden was chairman and Mr. Blinken was a senior staffer. Before that, Mr. Blinken wrote foreign policy speeches for Bill Clinton. Having spent part of his childhood in Paris, France, he has a familiarity with America's allies that has been sorely lacking.

UN Ambassador goes to Linda Thomas-Greenfield (LTG to the people at Foggy Bottom). She is an African-American woman who retired from the Foreign Service after 35 years. She then served as Assistant Secretary for African Affairs from 2013-2017. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfields held an ambassadorship to Liberia (2008-2012), and had postings in Switzerland (at the US Mission to the United Nations), Pakistan, Kenya, The Gambia, Nigeria, and Jamaica. She also ran State's human resources.

The third appointment, Jake Sullivan as National Security Adviser, is a bit more of a surprise. He is a lawyer by training (Yale), and he holds an MPhil. from Magdalen College Oxford (a research degree that often is awarded in lieu of a PhD) where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He worked for Hilary Clinton at State, and he was one of her top advisers during the 2016 campaign. The Washington Post reported today, "On Biden's campaign, Sullivan made more of a mark on domestic policy, helping him conceive the Build Back Better plan that was key to his economic message. Sullivan traveled extensively with Biden, accompanying him on a train ride through Ohio and Pennsylvania during the campaign." Thus, the job as National Security Adviser came as something of a surprise.

The combined experience of these three approaches a century in government service. Compare this to the Trump administration's choices. Rex Tillerson was CEO of ExxonMobil and by all accounts a good businessman. He had zero experience in government, and he is a civil engineer by training. The UN Ambassador was South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley. She had been a fairly successful politician in her home state, but she had little experience of global affairs beyond looking after the large number of military retirees in her state and keeping the books for her family's clothing company. As for Mr. Trump's first National Security Advisor, General Michael Flynn lasted 38 days before resigning because he was a national security risk.

The Trump administration came in believing that the establishment, the career officers, the experts in their field needed replacing. A few replacements like Governor Haley did an admirable job. Others pled guilty to felonies.

The Biden administration is starting out with the belief that the people who know their material should be given the jobs. Professionals sometimes fail because they cannot think outside the box. The previous administration failed because most of its appointees were incompetent. While they may have had a unique perspective, they lacked the skills to get the job done.

This journal will take the pros over the amateurs every ttime.

© Copyright 2020 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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