The grossly incompetent and/or corrupt Biden State Department has picked Obama’s former National Security Advisor and current Chairman of Blackrock Investment Institute to lead Biden’s relations with China.
The Washington Free Beacon reported today on Dillion’s proposed hire.
The Biden administration’s pick to advise the State Department on “strategic competition” with Beijing chairs an investment think tank that urged Americans to triple their investments in China.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday selected BlackRock Investment Institute chairman and Obama administration national security adviser Tom Donilon to co-chair the Foreign Affairs Policy Board amid the State Department’s pivot to China.
Donilon’s work at BlackRock could pose a conflict of interest for the board, which provides “advice, feedback, and perspectives” to senior State Department officials on foreign policy matters. Under his leadership, the Investment Institute has urged investors to dramatically increase their stakes in Chinese companies. What’s more, BlackRock views “strategic competition” with China as bad for the company’s bottom line.
“Strategic competition between the U.S. and China and resulting tensions have also contributed to uncertainty in the geopolitical and regulatory landscapes,” reads BlackRock’s most recent annual report. The firm listed U.S.-Chinese competition as a factor that could hurt its revenue and profit. BlackRock opened a mutual fund in China in September, making it the first American firm approved to sell financial products there.
BlackRock’s Chinese entanglements have raised concerns that the company is undermining the United States. The company has come under fire for investing in sanctioned Chinese companies, including surveillance giant Hikvision. Even progressive megadonor George Soros called BlackRock’s investments in China a “tragic mistake” that would damage U.S. national security interests.
Donilon has sided with China in the debate over tariffs imposed during the Trump administration. He chided government officials in 2019 about the tariffs and inaccurately warned that they would cause a global recession.
“Future generations of Americans will judge today’s leaders harshly for squandering this moment,” Donilon wrote in an article touted by China Daily, a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party.
Tariffs “are hurting U.S. businesses, consumers, and farmers,” Donilon wrote. “They are alienating U.S. allies. And, analysts warn, they are increasing the risk of a global recession.”
TGP reported in 2013 how Donilon resigned and was replaced with Susan Rice as National Security Advisor.
Blackrock describes Donilon as follows:
Thomas E. Donilon is Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute. He served as National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama. In that capacity Mr. Donilon oversaw the U.S. National Security Council staff, chaired the cabinet level National Security Principals Committee, provided the president’s daily national security briefing, and was responsible for the coordination and integration of the administration’s foreign policy, intelligence, and military efforts. Mr. Donilon also oversaw the White House’s international economics, cybersecurity, and international energy efforts. Mr. Donilon served as the President’s personal emissary to a number of world leaders, including President Hu Jintao and President Xi Jinping, President Vladimir Putin, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Mr. Donilon previously served as Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor. In that role, he was responsible for managing the U.S. government’s national security policy development and crisis management process. Mr. Donilon chaired the Obama-Biden transition at the U.S. Department of State. During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, Mr. Donilon headed President Obama’s general election debate preparation effort.
Blackrock goes on to note that Donilon is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations which is a globalist group that’s been around for a century:
Mr. Donilon is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Strategy Group, and the Trilateral Commission. He received his undergraduate degree from Catholic University and his law degree from the University of Virginia. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Ambassador Cathy Russell, and their children, Sarah (20) and Teddy (17). Cathy was U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues at the State Department from 2013-2017.
The Council is “the most visible manifestation of what some have called the American establishment. Members of the council have dominated the administrations of every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, at the cabinet and sub-cabinet level. It does not matter whether the president is a Democrat or Republican. As we will later see, Barack Obama is no exception to CFR influence.”
This move by Biden and Blinken may not be best for the country.
