Antony Blinken
Antony Blinken
International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia
Antony Blinken X Post dated May 17, 2024:[1]
- "Today on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia, the United States re-affirms its commitment to promoting the safety and dignity of LGBTQI+ persons. This is not just a moral imperative, but a key component of advancing our national interests.
Biden Appoints Penny Pritzker as 'the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery'
From Antony Blinken Tweet dated Sep 14, 2023:[2]
- @Potus has appointed Penny Pritzker as the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery. She will work with Ukraine's government, international partners, and the private sector to accelerate Ukraine's economic transformation.
JStreet conference
Secretary of State Antony Blinken headlined a JStreet in December 2022.
Other speakers included former Bernie Sanders adviser and longtime Israel critic Matt Duss, Daily Beast writer Wajahat Ali, a cadre of pro-Palestinian activists, and several Democratic members of Congress, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) and senator-elect Peter Welch (D., Vt.).
CLW approval of Biden team
From the Council for a Livable World website, December 20, 2020:
- This time next month will be the last minutes of the Trump administration, and like all those who value diplomacy over conflict and competence over chaos, we at the Council could not be more excited. President-elect Joe Biden has been a champion for nuclear risk reduction his entire career. In fact, the Council endorsed him in his first Senate bid in 1972, becoming his first endorsement from a national organization. The Council also endorsed him for President over the summer — our first ever endorsement at the Presidential level.
- So far, we at the Council are optimistic about the selection of many of Biden’s Cabinet picks whose focuses overlap with ours, including Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken, Climate Change Envoy appointee John Kerry, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Director of National Intelligence nominee Avril Haines, National Security Advisor appointee Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense nominee Lloyd Austin and Secretary of Energy nominee Jennifer Granholm. We know that not everyone is thrilled about every pick, but we remain confident that the Biden administration will work to reduce nuclear threats, restore morale and purpose at the State Department after four years of damage, and try to rein in out-of-control defense spending.
- Meanwhile, while our team continues to focus primarily on Congressional work, we have met with various members of the Biden transition team to provide our expert analysis and insight on the most critical national security issues we’ll face over the next four years.[3]
WestExec
Antony Blinken took leave from the consulting firm WestExec Advisors over the summer to run the Biden campaign’s foreign policy operation. He could be in line for a prominent position in the new administration.
Cristina Killingsworth, WestExec’s vice president, is on leave from the firm while she works on Mr. Biden’s Office of Management and Budget review team. One of the firm’s co-founders, Antony Blinken, a former deputy secretary of state, took a leave in August to run the Biden campaign’s foreign policy operation.
Antony Blinken is considered a possible secretary of state in the Biden administration, while his WestExec co-founder, Michele Flournoy, a former under secretary of defense for policy, is considered a possible defense secretary.
The firm does not name its clients. It has worked with the philanthropy started by Eric Schmidt, the former Google chairman, and with Google's in-house incubation unit, Jigsaw. On its website, WestExec says its clients include a leading American pharmaceutical company and a multibillion-dollar American technology company that it helped with “safeguarding against trade tensions between the U.S. and China.”