Some Trump insiders are raising red flags over indications that a top Clinton advisor, former President George W. Bush’s secretary of state and a defense contractor are being eyed for the president’s top intelligence advisory group.
Dormant for a year, efforts are underway to set up the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, an outside group of experts that judges the quality of U.S. foreign intelligence.
President Trump has at times been at war with intelligence agencies so the PIAB could have unusual influence in his White House which is why rumored names are drawing intense scrutiny from allies who support his “America First” agenda and outsiders worried about the U.S. becoming too isolationist.
Officials confirmed that the head of the group is to be billionaire financier Stephen Feinberg, who endorsed Trump.
Feinberg has sought a national security position with Trump. He is the chief of the private investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, a group that includes former Vice President Dan Quayle and former Bush Treasury Secretary John Snow. It owns major government contractor DynCorp International, potentially raising conflict questions.
Earlier in the administration, Feinberg and Blackwater founder Erik Prince were asked to draw up alternatives for the war in Afghanistan, but were rebuffed by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Critics say he has little foreign intelligence experience.
Sources also said that Feinberg’s deputy is to be former Bush White House advisor Samantha Ravich, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and advisor to the Chertoff Group, headed by Michael Chertoff, the second secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. She also held a top position with former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Foreign Policy first speculated about Feinberg and Ravich. Both face extensive background checks and, as a result, won’t be publicly announced for a while, said an official.
Former Bush Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also on the list of those being considered. She has both praised and criticized Trump, and she is more of a globalist and foreign policy interventionist than Trump. Her recent book was seen by the Washington Post as a repudiation of Trump’s America First plan.
While Rice was the nation’s top diplomat, the Bush administration pushed the type of nation-building strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan that Trump has rejected.
A proponent said that Rice’s experience, including her extensive knowledge of Russia and Communism, provide a needed “diversity” on the panel.
Then there is Michele Flournoy, the Clinton advisor who was expected to be named secretary of defense in a Clinton administration. White House officials said she is not on their list, but may be suggested by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who sought to have her named as his deputy.
Just the mention Flournoy alarmed White House insiders and Trump allies. “We don’t need Hillary Clinton’s team advising the president,” said one.
Two other outside advisors to the president were also concerned with picking Bush advisors.
“These are exactly the people who got us involved in wars and globalist policies that the president ran against,” said one.
Those sources said that Trump is not fully involved yet in the picking of his PIAB.
The PIAB and the membership on the Intelligence Oversight Board is charged with reviewing intelligence, but just what power it has is unclear. According to Foreign Policy, for example, former President Jimmy Carter dismantled it. Former President George W. Bush had 16 members. Former President Obama had 14, but slashed it to 4.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
