Progressive national security professionals are already looking for positions in a potential Kamala Harris administration, hoping to steer the White House in a different direction on Israel and other issues, after being largely sidelined under President Joe Biden.
Some progressive activists plan to draw up lists of people Harris could hire at places like the National Security Council and the Department of Defense. Others are polishing their resumes, drafting policy briefs and mapping their connections to the Harris world.
The ultimate goal of progressives is to influence American foreign policy and national security from within. This proved difficult to do under Biden, a moderate Democrat who arrived at the White House with a huge group of longtime advisers — many of whom could trace their careers back to the Clinton administration. It didn’t help that progressives had relatively few people in their ranks with significant government experience in foreign policy roles.
Her plans, however, are a sign that Harris will face both political and personal pressure on her left flank if she wins.
“We haven’t had the opportunity to build such a deep bench of people with this high-level experience,” said Matthew Duss, a progressive foreign policy thinker who advised the senator. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and is now at the Center for International Policy. “What I hope is that the vice president and her team will commit to helping us build this bench, because these will be the people who will eventually be able to develop, execute and implement a foreign policy that is truly appropriate for this moment. ”
For years, Democratic foreign policy and the national security system were dominated by people linked to Bill and Hillary Clinton, many of whom then worked for Barack Obama (including Hillary Clinton herself).
After the interlude of the Donald Trump years, Biden attracted many people he knew from his time as Obama’s vice president and from decades in the Senate, where he was a foreign policy expert.
Biden and his team also believed that experienced people needed to lead places like the State Department after the personnel convulsions under Trump.
This limited the number of political appointee jobs available, including for progressives who accumulated lists of possible hires for the Biden team.
“Many people volunteered for the Biden campaign thinking they would have the opportunity to serve. So they saw Biden pick people who had the option checked because they had served in the Obama administration,” said one think tank, which unsuccessfully sought a position on Biden’s team and may seek a position with Harris.
A second think tank said it could try to make more media appearances and organize private briefings for people connected to Harris’ campaign as a way to raise her profile among job seekers.
Both these individuals and others were given anonymity to be candid about sensitive issues that could affect their careers.
Across the Democratic Party spectrum, many job seekers now reason that Harris will need new people at various levels, from low-level special assistants to Cabinet members. Some of Biden’s appointees are likely to leave, and Harris may want to signal that she is her own president, not just an echo of her predecessor.
Progressive activists say they know their chances of getting many positions are low, given the intense competition for those jobs and the fact that it often comes down to luck and connections.
At the same time, many progressives would be pleased if Harris — who has so far appeared as a relatively middle-of-the-road Democrat on foreign policy — indulged in some new ideas on challenges ranging from the Israel-Hamas war to rivalry with Beijing.
“I’m in favor of a ‘cleanup’ – we urgently need new thinking in US foreign policy,” said Lyle Goldstein, director of Asia engagement at the Washington-based think tank Defense Priorities, which advocates a more restrained foreign policy. from the USA.
Spokespeople for Harris’ campaign declined to comment.
Progressives are not monolithic and are, in many ways, still trying to figure out their preferred approach to foreign policy. But generally speaking, many in this group want U.S. foreign policy to be less militarized, more invested in diplomacy, and more consistent with human rights. At times, progressives have echoed the concerns of those on the far right, whose leaders also called for less US military involvement abroad.
Biden’s actions received a mixed reception from progressives. Some were happy to see the US withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, despite the chaos involved. Many were also impressed by how Biden’s team rallied much of the world to support Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion, even though it did not send U.S. troops into combat.
But many have watched with dismay at Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, given the humanitarian consequences in the Gaza Strip. They are also worried that widespread anti-China sentiment in Washington could lead to a violent conflict with Beijing.
Harris appears to be a typical liberal internationalist like Biden, but some progressives hope she will define herself more clearly once in the Oval Office and at least be more consistent on issues like human rights, especially for Palestinians.
A Defense Department official who identifies as progressive said that while Harris’ public persona may not appear overtly left-leaning, her ties to many on that end of the political spectrum provide opportunities for her to be influenced.
“She is friends with so many progressive people, and there are so many progressive people in this sphere that it changes the playing field,” the employee said.
Harris will likely have plenty of foreign policy vacancies to fill.
Several of Biden’s top aides, such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, will have already served a full and exhaustive term, and even if Biden were reelected, they would likely have stepped aside anyway for personal reasons, health and others. This makes it easier for Harris to appoint her own people to such positions.
But Harris could also keep some Biden appointees.
For one thing, despite her time in the Senate and as Biden’s vice president, she has not developed a large foreign policy network of her own.
Some of his current top foreign policy advisers worked for previous Democratic presidents. Among them is her current national security adviser, Philip Gordon, who many expect will continue to work for her if she assumes the presidency. Gordon, who worked for the Biden, Obama and Clinton administrations, declined to comment.
Many lower-level Biden appointees may also want to stay, in part in hopes of moving up.
Furthermore, if Harris goes too far in expelling Biden-era aides, it could appear as if she is implicitly criticizing her predecessor.
There is also a need for some continuity and stability.
“If she surrounds herself with newcomers – no matter how smart and passionate they may be – there will be overwhelming uncertainty, insecurities, blame games and toxicity among the national security team,” predicted a former national security official in the Obama administration.
During the run-up to Biden’s presidency, progressive activists offered names to the president-elect’s team of people who should join. The lists have not been releasedbut the people who brought them together said that relatively few of the nominees went on to win government positions.
Still, the plan is to try again with Harris, said Yasmine Taeb, one of the progressive activists who has met regularly with Biden aides during the transition.
“We’re definitely hopeful that she can bring in some new blood,” she said.
A former US official with ties to the progressive community warned these groups to temper any expectations of landing high-profile jobs precisely because there are relatively few known progressives with government experience. Having this background is important when it comes to promoting ideas in what can be a complicated bureaucracy and policymaking process.
Harris is unlikely to pick firebrand leftists who broadly oppose U.S. military intervention abroad for a Cabinet spot.
Still, skeptics of hard power may be able to move into lower positions in various agencies, the former US official said, and then learn the system and move up to other political appointees.
“You need someone to be a deputy assistant secretary before they are an assistant secretary and an assistant secretary before they are an undersecretary, or have some kind of significant career that gives them some judgment,” the former official said.
There may be many career civil servants with progressive tendencies. But unlike political appointees, career staffers are expected to implement the policies of whoever is in the White House and are discouraged from openly discussing their personal views.
The Defense Department official attributed their ability to land a job more to luck than strategy because “people didn’t realize how far left I am.”
A Harris ally said the vice president likes to hire people with diverse backgrounds and that it is possible she will look far beyond Washington and its think tanks to fill national security vacancies.
But the ally also argued that if people — including progressives — really want to work for a President Harris, they need to hurry up now and start working for her campaign.
Even simply volunteering to hand out flyers can demonstrate initiative that could be rewarded with a job offer later, especially since, unlike Biden, Harris doesn’t have legions of longtime aides who she might feel obligated to help with. hire.
“Don’t sit there polishing your resume waiting for January 2025,” said the ally. “People should go door to door and do everything they can to get her elected.”
