All about WestExec, the very thread Biden consulting firm
Facts and trivia about WestExec, a company founded in 2017 by Tony Blinken, the next Secretary of State in the Biden administration. Giulia Alfieri's article for Policy Maker
WestExec Advisors is effectively waiting to transform into the next US government. The consulting firm was founded in 2017 by Tony Blinken, chosen by President-elect Joe Biden as the next Secretary of State, along with Michèle Flournoy, a leading candidate for the position of Secretary of Defense. Additionally, one of its leading figures, Avril Haines, was chosen by Biden as the director of national intelligence.
WHAT WESTEXEC DOES
Politico says little is known about WestExec's client list. As his employees are not lobbyists and are not required to disclose who they work for. Nor are they bound by the restrictions of Biden's transition to the White House. WestExec must not publicly disclose who it funds and for what activities it is enlisted. And it is also practically impossible – again according to the newspaper – to assess the influence they have on federal spending.
SUPPORT FOR BIDEN
WestExec is made up of many former National Security officials linked to the US Democratic Party who have raised money for Biden's campaign and joined his transition team – or who have in some cases served as unofficial advisors. At least 21 of WestExec's 38 employees listed on the company's website funded the Biden campaign. Flournoy alone, as Politico reports, raised more than $ 100,000. Five WestExec employees – all Obama administration veterans – are on leave from the company to help Biden's audit teams for the Pentagon, the Treasury Department, the Council of Economic Advisors and other agencies, which are tasked with coordinating the power transfer between Trump's outgoing officials and Biden's appointees.
BOB WORK AND DAVID COHEN
Two other WestExec directors, Politico reported, were among those who briefed Biden on national security last week: Bob Work, who served as deputy secretary of defense in the Obama administration and was asked to remain in office for the early months of the Trump administration, and David Cohen, a former deputy director of both the CIA and the Treasury Department, also vying for a top spot.
THE BIDEN NETWORK
Meanwhile, Jen Psaki, former White House communications director under the Obama presidency, who went on to work for WestExec, is now an advisor to Biden's transition team. And two other former employees of the consultancy firm, Lisa Monaco and Julianne Smith, are seen as potential collaborators for Biden's administration. For WestExec, ties with Biden have become an increasingly strategic strength.
NOT ONLY WESTEXEC
WestExec is just one of several Washington consulting firms. And it's not the only company of its kind to have ties to Biden's campaign or transition. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whom Biden chose on Tuesday as his ambassador to the United Nations, is senior vice president of the Albright Stonebridge Group, the "trade diplomacy firm" founded by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Biden's agency's review teams also include at least three other Albright Stonebridge associates. Nelson Cunningham, meanwhile, co-founder of the “private sector diplomacy firm” McLarty Associates, which has done consulting for clients such as Chevron and Walmart, was a bundler of Biden's campaign and informally advised his team.
THE AMERICAN TRADITION
As the Washington Post wrote, in the 21st century idea industry, WestExec represents the new course: "money is made with strategic consulting." Blinken and Flournoy – according to the US newspaper – are simply following a lead already traveled by Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, Madeleine Albright, Sandy Berger, Condoleezza Rice, Stephen Hadley and Robert Gates.
THE SYRIAN SHADOWS
However, many articles cast some shadows of mistrust on WestExec, recalling how Blinken, a former deputy secretary of state under the Obama administration, took part in discussions on US foreign policy towards Syria as early as 2013 – considered one of the great failures. in foreign policy of the 44th president of the United States. Many recalled that Blinken himself was among the supporters of the program to arm the Syrian rebels in an anti-Assad function. The Washington Post remembers Blinken's famous quote: "Superpowers don't bluff."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/chi-e-e-cosa-fa-westexec-la-societa-di-consulenza-che-governera-gli-stati-uniti-con-biden/ on Wed, 06 Jan 2021 06:23:44 +0000.