Biden’s foreign policy team the ‘return of the Washington establishment’

In other words, the Black Lagoon welcomes back its creatures.

President-elect Joe Biden’s foreign policy team is taking a conventional shape, one that might irritate some progressives and likewise reassure Republican analysts. “This the return of the Washington establishment,” retired Marine Corps Col. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Security and International Studies and self-identified Republican, said of Biden’s cast of national security officials. Biden began the unveiling of his national security team on Monday, with a clear preference for familiar faces with “centrist” reputations: former Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken will succeed outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, while former Hillary Clinton adviser Jake Sullivan emerges as the incoming White House national security adviser — one of the better possible tandems, even from the perspective of conservative observers. “Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan are thoughtful, experienced, open-minded and honorable patriots,” Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Vice President Toby Dershowitz wrote in an emailed appraisal. “I have no doubt they are mindful of and ready to address the many national security challenges and opportunities in front of them.”

Biden’s foreign policy team the ‘return of the Washington establishment’