Jim Lobe
January 25th, 2017.
http://lobelog.com/who-will-rule-trump-foreign-policy/
The most frightening commentary I’ve read in the run-up to the
inauguration—and there have been many—appeared in a column identifying
the four people whose foreign policy ideas were likely to be most
influential with the then-president-elect. It was written by The Washington Post’s Josh Rogin and entitled “Inside Trump’s Shadow National Security Council.”
Those four people, according to Rogin, are chief strategist Stephen
Bannon, who “has been working on the long-term strategic vision that
will shape the Trump administration’s overall foreign policy approach;”
chief of staff Reince Priebus; Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and his national security adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.).
What is particularly striking about these four men is their
collective lack of foreign-policy-making experience. I can’t see any in
Bannon’s resume. Priebus, until he took over the Republican National
Committee six years ago, was essentially a local Wisconsin political
operative. Aside from occasional visits to Israel and his family
foundation’s philanthropy for Israeli and settler institutions,
Kushner has never, to my knowledge, expressed any particular interest
in foreign policy although, according to Rogin, he has recently been
meeting with “leading representatives from countries including Israel,
Germany and Britain.” Although Flynn undoubtedly gained a lot of
experience overseas, his entire career was devoted to military
intelligence, not policy making. And, despite her lengthy resume
compiled in the national security bureaucracies under various Republican
presidents, Flynn’s hand-picked deputy, K.T. McFarland, worked
virtually exclusively in communications and speechwriting — never in a
policy-making role.
Is there any modern precedent for this total lack of experience in
the top echelons of the White House, including the National Security
Council?
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