There's lots of confusion in press commentary these days, and rightfully so, about how the national security team in the US government, including ambassadors, is formed. It's confusing ! THREAD /1.
Most people working at the State Department, Department of Defense, the CIA, and even the National Security Council are career government officials, who work for both Republican and Democratic administrations. /2
Only a small number of people at the top, usually at the Assistant Secretary level and above at State, Defense, etc. or at the Senior Director level and above at the NSC are political appointees. /3
When I worked at the NSC from 2009-2012 as senior director and special assistant to the president, I was a political appointee. Every one of my staff members, however, were career officials on loan ("seconded") from State, Defense, & CIA. /4
When I walked into my first day of work at the White House on January 21, 2009, to start work for President Obama, every single one of my employees had worked for President Bush the day before. /5
Lots of "political appointees" , however, are national security professionals, experts in their fields. Everyone in this crowd -- whether working for Dems or Republicans -- knows each other well. Their differences are mostly about policy, not party affiliation. /6
I have known & know many political appointees who I consider national security experts in the Bush administration AND in the Trump administration. Fiona Hill, for instance, is one of them. Volker is another. (Beigun is another-- there are many currently in govt.) /7
In addition to the majority of professional career national security officials (of which the whistleblower is most likely one) & this handful of political appointees who are also national security experts, there is one more category: non-expert partisan political appointees. /8
Sometimes these kind of people work at the White House. Jared Kushner, for instance, has no national security expertise, but lots of responsibilities for foreign policy. More often, these partisans are rewarded for the campaign contributions with ambassadorships. /9
Some "political" ambassadors are appointed because of their expertise. I consider myself one of those. I gave Obama $250. Other examples in Obama era -- Ambos @DanielBShapiro in Israel or @IvoHDaalder at NATO. Most, however, are not. /10
Ambassador Sondland at the EU is a political appointee who was appointed because of his contributions to Trump. As far as I know, he has no expertise in either the EU or Ukraine. Obviously, Giuliani also has no expertise on these matters. /11
So it is misleading to characterize Amb Yovanovitch and Sondland as "two senior ambassadors." Technically, that's true. In reality, they have very different backgrounds. /12
Likewise, those at the NSC, who were concerned about the Trump-Zelensky call (before and after) were most likely national security professionals, whether political appointees or career national security officials. /13
In my 5 yrs in government, I never encountered the "deep state." Instead, I had the privilege of working with hundreds, maybe thousands, of women and men at State, Defense, CIA, Treasury, USAID, etc who were 100% dedicated to serving professionally this great country of ours. END
