Progressive national security professionals are already eyeing seats in a potential Kamala Harris administration, hoping to steer the White House in a different direction on Israel and other issues after being largely shut out under President Joe Biden.
Some progressive activists plan to draw up lists of people Harris could hire for places like the National Security Council and the Defense Department. Others are polishing their résumés, sketching policies and charting their connections to the world of Harris.
The ultimate goal of progressives is to influence US foreign policy and national security from within. That proved difficult to do under Biden, a Democratic moderate who came to the White House with a huge stable of longtime aides — many of whom could trace their careers back to the Clinton administration. It didn’t help that the progressives have relatively few people in their ranks with significant experience in government positions in foreign policy positions.
However, their plans are a sign that Harris will face pressure on both policy and personnel from the left if he wins.
“We haven’t had the opportunity to build this large a team with this high-level experience,” said Matthew Duss, a progressive foreign policy thinker who has advised Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and is now with the Center on International Policy. “I hope that the vice president and his team will commit to helping us build that bench because they are the people who ultimately can develop and implement and implement a foreign policy that really fits this moment.”
Democratic foreign policy and national security were dominated for years by people associated with Bill and Hillary Clinton, many of whom then worked for Barack Obama (including Hillary Clinton herself).
After years of snacking on Donald Trump, Biden pulled in many people he knew from Obama’s vice presidency and decades in the Senate, where he was a foreign policy expert.
Biden and his team also believed that experienced people needed to lead places like the State Department after Trump’s personnel upheaval.
That limited the number of political appointees available, including progressives who had been compiling lists of potential hires for the Biden team.
“Many people volunteered for the Biden campaign thinking they would have an opportunity to serve. Then they saw Biden picking people who had been checked for serving in the Obama administration,” said one brainchild who unsuccessfully sought a role on Biden’s team and may seek a spot with Harris.
Another think tank said he may try to make more media appearances and hold private briefings for people associated with the Harris campaign as a way to raise his profile among job seekers.
Both these individuals and others were granted anonymity to speak directly about matters that are sensitive and could affect their careers.
Across the Democratic Party spectrum, many potential job seekers now think Harris needs new people at a variety of levels, from low-level special assistants to cabinet members. Some of Biden’s appointees are likely to leave, and Harris may want to prove he’s his own president, not just an echo of his predecessor.
Progressive activists say they know their chances of landing many seats are low, given the fierce competition for such positions and the fact that it often comes down to luck and connections.
Meanwhile, many progressives would be happy if Harris — until now a relatively middle-of-the-road Democrat on foreign policy — offered new ideas on the challenges of the war between Israel and Hamas to the rivalry with Beijing.
“It’s a clean sweep — we desperately need new thinking in US foreign policy,” said Lyle Goldstein, director of Asia operations at Defense Priorities, a Washington-based think tank that advocates a more restrained US foreign policy.
Harris campaign spokesmen declined to comment.
Progressives are not monolithic and in many ways are still trying to figure out their preferred approach to foreign policy. But in general, many members of this group want US foreign policy to be less militarized, more diplomatic, and more consistent with human rights. At times, progressives have echoed the concerns of people on the far right, whose leaders have also called for the U.S. to reduce military activity abroad.
Biden’s actions have received mixed reception from progressives. Some were happy to see the US pull out of Afghanistan despite the chaos. Many were also impressed with how the Biden team has rallied much of the world to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, while not sending US troops into the fray.
But many have watched Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas with dismay, given the humanitarian consequences in the Gaza Strip. They also worry that widespread anti-China sentiment in Washington could lead to violent conflict with Beijing.
Harris appears to be a typical liberal internationalist like Biden, but some progressives hope he will define himself more clearly in the Oval Office and at least be more consistent on issues like human rights, especially for the Palestinians.
A Defense Department official, who professes to be a progressive, said that while Harris’ public persona may not appear to be overtly left-wing, his links to many on that political spectrum give him an opportunity to make an impact.
“He’s friends with so many progressive people, and there are so many progressive people in this industry, it changes the playing field,” the official said.
Harris likely has plenty of foreign policy spots to fill.
Several of Biden’s top aides, such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, have already served full, grueling terms, and even if Biden were re-elected, they would have stepped aside anyway for personal, health and other reasons. This makes it easier for Harris to name his own people in such messages.
But Harris may also consider some of Biden’s appointments.
First, despite his time in the Senate and as Biden’s running mate, he hasn’t developed a wide network of his own foreign policy hands.
Some of his current top foreign policy aides worked for previous Democratic presidents. They include his current national security adviser, Philip Gordon, who many expect will continue to work for him if he becomes president. Gordon, who has worked in the Biden, Obama and Clinton administrations, declined to comment.
Many lower-level Biden appointees may also want to move on, in part hoping to move up.
Besides, if Harris goes too far in dissing Biden-era aides, it could seem like he’s implicitly criticizing his predecessor.
Continuity and stability are also needed.
“If he surrounds himself with rookies — no matter how smart and passionate — there will be tremendous insecurity, insecurity, blame and toxicity among the nat-sec team,” predicted a former national security official in the Obama administration.
During the run-up to the Biden presidency, progressive activists offered names for the president-elect’s team it should bring. The lists were not made public, but those who compiled them said relatively few nominees earned seats on the board.
Still, the plan is to try again with Harris, said Yasmine Taeb, one of the progressive activists who met regularly with Biden aides during the transition.
“We’re definitely hopeful that he can bring in some new blood,” he said.
A former U.S. official with ties to the progressive community warned such groups to temper expectations for high-profile positions precisely because there are relatively few known progressives with experience in government. This kind of background matters when you have to think through ideas in a difficult bureaucracy and decision-making process.
Harris is unlikely to elect a cabinet of fiery leftists who generally oppose U.S. military intervention abroad.
Still, skeptics of such hard power might find their way to lower levels in various agencies, a former U.S. official said, and then learn the system and work their way into other political appointee roles.
“You need someone to be an assistant secretary before they’re an assistant secretary and an assistant secretary before they’re an undersecretary, or you have to have some sort of meaningful career path that gives them conviction,” the former official said.
There can be many employees with a progressive bent in a career in government. But unlike political appointees, they are expected to carry out the policies of those in the White House and are discouraged from openly discussing their personal views.
A Ministry of Defense official attributed their ability to land to luck rather than strategy because “people didn’t realize how left of center I am.”
A Harris ally said the vice president wants to hire people with diverse experience, and that it’s possible he’ll look far outside Washington and its think tanks to fill national security positions.
But the ally also argued that if people — including progressives — really want to work for President Harris, they need to hurry up now and start working for his campaign.
Even just volunteering to hand out flyers can show initiative that could pay off with a job offer later, especially since, unlike Biden, Harris doesn’t have a legion of longtime aides he might feel compelled to hire.
“Don’t sit there polishing your resume waiting for January 2025,” the ally said. “People should be knocking on doors and doing everything they can to get him elected.”
