Biden’s nominees promise to keep politics out of intel
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden’s nominees to lead his national security team promised a turnabout from the Trump administration’s approach on the world stage, saying Tuesday they would keep partisan politics out of intelligence agencies, restore an emphasis on cooperating with international allies and push for a stronger American leadership role.
Antony Blinken, Biden’s choice to be secretary of state, pledged to repair damage done to the State Department and America’s image abroad over the past four years while continuing a tougher approach to China. He said he planned to restore career officials to prominent positions in the department and strive to promote inclusivity in the ranks for the diplomatic corps.
“American leadership still matters,” he said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Biden’s nominee to lead the intelligence community, Avril Haines, promised to “speak truth to power” and keep politics out of intelligence agencies to ensure their work is trusted. Her remarks implied a departure from the Trump administration’s record of pressuring intelligence officials to shape their analysis to the president’s liking.
“When it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics — ever,” she told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Putting his national security team in place quickly is a priority for Biden, not only because of his hopes for reversing or modifying Trump administration policy shifts but also because of diplomatic, military and intelligence problems around the world that may create challenges early in his tenure.
Biden’s choice to head the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, focused his opening statement on a different issue — his status as a recently retired Army general, which would disqualify him from being secretary of defense without a congressional waiver of a law that prohibits a military officer from holding the job within seven years of leaving the service.
Addressing the Senate Armed Services Committee, Austin, who served 41 years in the Army, vowed to surround himself with qualified civilians and include them in policy decisions. He said he has spent nearly his entire life committed to the principle of civilian control over the military.
“I know that being a member of the president’s Cabinet — a political appointee — requires a different perspective and unique duties from a career in uniform,” Austin said. “I would not be here, asking for your support, if I felt I was unable or unwilling to question people with whom I once served and operations I once led, or too afraid to speak my mind to you or to the president.”
Blinken, who previously served as deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration, said that Iran also would be a primary focus. He said he believed that the nuclear deal Trump withdrew from in 2018 should be reinvigorated with an eye toward producing “a longer and stronger agreement.”
“Having said that,” he said, suggesting that Iran would not be an immediate priority, “we’re a long way from that.”
On China, Blinken said the Trump administration was right to take a tougher stance. But he said it had approached the matter poorly by alienating U.S. allies and not fully standing up for human rights around the world.
“As we look at China, there is no doubt that it poses the greatest threat of any nation state to the United States,” he said.