“America Is Back”: Beltway Hawks Giddy Over Biden’s National Security ‘A-Team’

Biden’s message Tuesday as he unveiled the first six members of his national security and foreign policy team and let them speak for the first time is that “America is back” and is “ready to lead the world” once again.

He reflected in making the in-person introductions that “It’s a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure,” and that it—

“Reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it. Once again, sit at the head of the table.”

“We cannot meet these challenges with old thinking and unchanged habits,” Biden said further of the nominees and appointees which CNN noted (no doubt approvingly):

“…offered implicit rebukes of President Donald Trump and his isolationist and ‘America First’ worldview.”

“The team meets this moment,” Biden said of those standing with masks in a ‘socially distanced’ set-up behind him on the stage of the Queen theater in Wilmington. He emphasized among the “firsts” on the team includes Avril Haines as first woman to serve as director of national intelligence, as well as Alejandro Mayorkas – the first Latino and first immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security. 

Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry’s appointment as “special presidential envoy for climate” will mark the first time a principal on the National Security Council is tasked full time with fighting climate change.

“This is an A-team,” says former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper of Biden’s Cabinet nominees. “There is a powerful message here being conveyed by the results of the election and the people that the President-elect is assembling to help him carry out his agenda.” pic.twitter.com/LZvJPUGqB6

— CNN (@CNN) November 24, 2020

Here are some key lines from a line-up which is allowing the Washington deep state to breath a collective sigh of relief (for a prime example, former DNI Clapper was positively giddy during a CNN preview of the “A-team” line-up, in his words)…

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Antony Blinken, Secretary of State

Here’s what he said upon the introduction by President-Elect Biden: “Now we have to proceed with equal measures of humility and confidence. Humility because, as the President-elect said, we can’t solve all of the world’s problems alone. We need to be working with other countries, we need their cooperation. We need their partnership. But also confidence, because America at its best still has greater ability than any other country on Earth to bring others together to meet the challenges of our time.”

Jake Sullivan, national security adviser

Here’s what he said: “We will be vigilant in the face of enduring threats, from nuclear weapons to terrorism. But you have also tasked us with reimagining our national security for the unprecedented combination of crises we face at home and abroad. The pandemic, the economic crisis, the climate crisis, technological disruption, threats to democracy, racial injustice and inequality in all forms. The work of the team behind me today will contribute to progress across all these fronts.”

Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence

She said: “Mr. President-elect, you know that I have never shied away from speaking truth to power and that will be my charge as director of national intelligence. I’ve worked for you for a long time and I accept this nomination knowing that you would never want me to do otherwise and that you value the perspective of the intelligence community and that you will do so even when what I have to say may be inconvenient or difficult, and I assure you, there will be those times.”

Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security

He noted: “My father and mother brought me to this country to escape communism. They cherished our democracy and were intensely proud to become United States citizens. I have carried that pride throughout my nearly 20 years of government service and throughout my life.”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the United Nations

She began: “On this day, I’m thinking about the American people, my fellow career diplomats and public servants around the world. I want to say to you: America is back. Multilateralism is back. Diplomacy is back.”

John Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate

Here’s what he said: “Mr. President-elect, you’ve put forward a bold, transformative climate plan, but you’ve also underscored that no country alone can solve this challenge. Even the United States for all of our industrial strength is responsible for only 13% of global emissions. To end this crisis, the whole world must come together. You’re right to rejoin Paris on day one, and you’re right to recognize that Paris alone is not enough.”

Biden says his international climate adviser will be “a principal on the National Security Council” who “can make sure climate is on the agenda in the situation room.” His pick for the job is “one of my closest friends, John Kerry.”

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) November 24, 2020

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Meanwhile, some of the major names among establishment liberal war hawks and ‘humanitarian’ interventionists wanting to see a return of ‘muscular America’ abroad gave their glowing endorsements, via the AP:

Thomas-Greenfield “is a valued colleague and veteran diplomat who will restore US leadership and cooperation at the UN,” said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, for whose consulting company, Albright Stonebridge, the nominee now works.

“This will be a phenomenal team,” said Samantha Power. “(They) bring decency, professionalism, judgment, and decades of foreign policy experience to these essential jobs. And America will be SO well served.”

Sincere question: Has anyone on Biden’s ‘national security’ team ever opposed a US war?

— David Mizner (@DavidMizner) November 24, 2020

After Jake Sullivan chirped to his boss about Al Qaeda being “on our side in Syria,” he advocated for more covert arms shipments to the Syrian insurgency the jihadist group was leading. Expect more wise moves like this in the months and years to come. https://t.co/eHhR4Pt5jZ pic.twitter.com/hi1HWD88v8

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) November 24, 2020

It’s not so much that “American is back”… but rather the American Deep State is back on top.