Biden Cabinet Picks’ Links To Pro-China Consulting Firm a National Security Concern

ANALYSIS – Several of presumptive President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet picks, including for Secretary of State and Director of National Intelligence (DNI), led the pro-China consulting firm – WestExec Advisors. This is causing national security concerns since the firm, as recently as late July, was publicly touting its access in China and ability to gain access for China in the United States.

Most concerning was WestExec Advisors’ push to expand Pentagon-related research and funding by Chinese entities in U.S. educational institutions. Even more suspicious was the company’s purging of that specific information from its website as soon as Joe Biden became the Democrat nominee for President in early August.

These links and the firm’s work to promote Chinese government interests in the U.S. appear to pose a potentially serious conflict of interest for Biden’s proposed national security team. And a national security concern for the country.

As Fox News reported:

Web archives show that as recently as late July, the firm was touting its success in helping U.S. research universities accept donations from China, expand foreign research collaboration, and welcome foreign students in key STEM programs while remaining a “trusted partner for DOD-sponsored research grants.”

In early August, the firm said it had helped a leading American pharmaceutical company and a multibillion-dollar American technology company gain market access to China.

Both references were removed in early August, just a few weeks before Biden formally accepted the Democratic nomination for president.

WestExec Advisors, founded in 2017, notes on its website that it “offers unique geopolitical and policy expertise to help business leaders make the best decisions in a complex and volatile international landscape.” Its co-founders include Biden Secretary of State pick Antony Blinken, and Michele Flournoy who is reportedly on Biden’s shortlist for Secretary of Defense.

Avril Haines, who is Biden’s nominee for DNI, was a WestExec principal.

Despite the purge of specific details noted above, the company’s “What We Do” page now shows more benignly that it maintains a China focus by offering to help clients manage “China-related risk in an era of strategic competition.”

WestExec’s work appears to run directly contrary to the recent developments exposing the subversive influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in American research and educational institutions, as well as massive espionage efforts across the country.

President Trump has made it a point to remove all these subversive Chinese tentacles in the U.S. in the past two years as he forged a first-ever strategy to counter the China threat. All the while Biden’s top choices for his national security team were helping communist China gain vital access in the U.S. Will Biden’s pro-China team bring these dangerous tentacles back to the U.S. and soften the U.S. relationship with Beijing?

The U.S. Senate must dig deeply into these WestExec and China links during any potential confirmation hearings. They appear to pose a potentially serious conflict of interest for Biden’s picks and a significant national security danger for the United States.

Paul Crespo

Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Defense News. A defense and national security expert, he served as a Marine Corps officer and as a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at US embassies worldwide. Paul holds degrees from Georgetown, London, and Cambridge Universities. He is also CEO of SPECTRE Global Risk, a security advisory firm, and President of the Center for American Defense Studies, a national security think tank. - paulcrespo.substack.com - PAULCRESPO.COM