Welcome to The Daily 202 newsletter! Today, we look at Vice President Harris's early contributions to foreign policy. But don’t miss the latest on the CDC's new guidance for the vaccinated, Biden's economic rescue package, and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) continues the string of GOP retirements. Did you spot a politics or policy story you think has been overlooked? Send it my way. And tell your friends to sign up here. Just six weeks since taking office, Vice President Harris is playing an integral role in President Biden’s foreign policy, putting her personal stamp on behind-the-scenes debates and on the world stage as she works to advance Biden’s diplomatic agenda. Harris has spoken independently of Biden to at least six world leaders, the White House says, an unusually large number for a new vice president; joined his virtual White House summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; and given remarks at the State Department. She was also a vocal participant in deliberations over how to respond to Iran-backed militias’ attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, as well as whether to sanction Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, White House aides said. “She was part of a small group that met twice with [Defense Secretary Lloyd] Austin and [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark] Milley and talked through the options,” said a senior White House official. “She really pressed on the question of how to try to achieve some measure of deterrence while managing escalation.” Harris “was there in the Sit[uation] Room for the final decision, and she crystallized the case for taking action,” said the official, speaking anonymously to describe private national security discussions. President Biden is joined by Vice President Harris as he speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House on Saturday. (Oliver Contreras for The Washington Post) |
It’s too early to say whether the president will formally entrust Harris with a specific national security portfolio, the way President Barack Obama handed Biden Iraq, Ukraine, and relations with Turkey after a 2016 coup attempt there. But the skills, knowledge and relationships she is building as vice president could serve her well if Biden — at 78, the oldest person ever to take the oath — bows out after one term, leaving the former California senator his designated heir. When it comes to foreign policy, modern vice presidents can play a wide variety of roles. All of them advise the president they serve. But they can also go on specific missions, as Dick Cheney did with trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan in President George W. Bush’s final two years. Or they can manage specific diplomatic relationships, as Biden did when he became the point person for contacts with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the coup attempt against him. How much or how little foreign policy falls to a vice president depends on the priorities of the person sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as well as global circumstances frequently beyond their control. Senior White House aides emphasize “She has some issues of particular interests … she doesn’t have a separate agenda,” said one. “Her agenda is the president’s agenda,” said another. While some observers see Biden’s relationship with Harris through the prism of his age, one aide said, his reliance on her stems from two factors. First, he knows “the scope and complexity of the modern presidency is so much broader and deeper” than ever. And second, he “understands that empowering others really serves his interests and brings strength to the entire team.” Harris usually starts her day by reading the “presidential daily brief” — the highly classified, CIA-produced, global overview of threats and top-secret projects — before attending the live version in the Oval Office with Biden, aides say. She keeps a busy schedule of regular meetings or meals with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Austin and other foreign policy and national security officials. As part of Biden’s effort to rekindle alliances and revive U.S. participation in multilateral institutions, Harris has spoken one-on-one by telephone with the leaders of Canada, France, Denmark, Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia and Israel. She also spoke to World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Her one-on-one calls to Trudeau, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed Biden conversations with those same leaders. (The president has held roughly 20 calls with world leaders.) “You don’t rebuild an alliance with a single call, it’s repeated engagement,” said one aide.Harris is also attentive to even the smallest nuances of diplomacy. Her formal summary of the call with Macron highlighted the French contribution to the Mars rover Perseverance, to the delight of French diplomats. “That’s about respect, because the French have their piece of it,” said an official. “With Macron in particular, showing that this is a relationship of equals … that’s something Biden cares a lot about.” Harris gravitates towards specific issues — preparing for the next pandemic, the effects of conflict and climate change on women’s health, and the way technology can shape human life for better (advances in communications) or for worse (hacking), aides said. “She recognizes the need for a strong military,” one White House aide said. “But she also recognizes that national security is made up of issues like health and climate and technology. You will see her focused on those topics and increasingly stepping out on them.” Harris also played an active role in the internal deliberations over whether and how to respond to attacks by Iran-back militias in Iraq and whether to punish MBS for the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor. “She was in every meeting and was a very active participant in all the discussions leading up to, and subsequent to, those decisions,” another senior White House official said on condition of anonymity to describe Harris’s role behind the scenes. “She and the president share a view on this issue,” another official said. “There’s no clean option. Doing nothing is not a clean option. Striking is not a clean option.” In those debates, Harris took the approach that reportedly won her bipartisan praise during her years on the Senate Intelligence Committee, her most significant prior exposure to national security issues. “She asked questions,” one White House aide said. “She said ‘wait a minute, let me challenge that assumption. Let’s challenge that premise.’ ” Asked whether this was Harris taking the approach of the former prosecutor that she was, one aide said: “It is being precise and rigorous if you want to ask how the legal background plays.” Another said “she’s not prosecuting in the sense that she’s pushing anybody to the wall, quite the contrary … what she’s trying to do is drive deliberations to see things that don’t normally come up or perspectives that others might not have considered.” |
No comments:
Post a Comment