- September 14th, 2021, 11:08 am
#631720
Im watching Anthony Blinkin testify before the Senate about his Afghanistan disaster. Here's some interesting information from Wikipedia about his private sector interest.
Private sector
WestExec Advisors
In 2017, Blinken co-founded WestExec Advisors, a political strategy advising firm, with Michèle Flournoy, Sergio Aguirre, and Nitin Chadda.[48][49] WestExec's clients have included Google's Jigsaw, Israeli artificial-intelligence company Windward, surveillance drone manufacturer Shield AI, which signed a $7.2 million contract with the Air Force,[50] and "Fortune 100 types".[51] According to Foreign Policy, the firm's clientele includes "the defense industry, private equity firms, and hedge funds".[52] Blinken received almost $1.2 million in compensation from WestExec.[53]
In an interview with The Intercept, Flournoy described WestExec's role as facilitating relationships between Silicon Valley firms and the Department of Defense and law enforcement;[54] Flournoy and others compared WestExec to Kissinger Associates.[54][55]
Pine Island Capital Partners
Blinken, as well as other Biden transition team members Michele Flournoy, former Pentagon advisor, and Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense, are partners of private equity firm Pine Island Capital Partners,[56][57] a strategic partner of WestExec.[58] Pine Island's chairman is John Thain, the final chairman of Merrill Lynch before its sale to Bank of America.[59] Blinken went on leave from Pine Island in August 2020 to join the Biden campaign as a senior foreign policy advisor.[57] He said he would divest himself of his equity stake in Pine Island if confirmed for a position in the Biden administration.[58]
During the final stretch of Biden's presidential campaign, Pine Island raised $218 million for a Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a public offering to invest in "defense, government service and aerospace industries" and COVID-19 relief, which the firm's prospectus (initially filed with the U.S. SEC in September and finalized on November 13, 2020) predicted would be profitable as the government looked to private contractors to address the pandemic.[57] Thain said he chose the other partners because of their "access, network and expertise".[50]
In a December 2020 New York Times article raising questions about potential conflicts of interest between WestExec principals, Pine Island advisors, including Blinken, and service in the Biden administration, critics called for full disclosure of all WestExec/Pine Island financial relationships, divestiture of ownership stakes in companies bidding on government contracts or enjoying existing contracts, and assurances that Blinken and others recuse themselves from decisions that might advantage their previous clients.[50]
Blinken is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[60] As of 2020, he was a global affairs analyst for CNN.[61][62]