Hostile actors such as Russia and China spend billions trying to gather information to gain military or economic advantages against the United States, and such information is routinely discussed by the president’s senior advisers on the National Security Council staff as they develop policy options for the administration in a series of formal meetings that take place in classified settings — in fact, even subjects let alone the contents of these meetings are not to be disclosed in unclassified email systems.
What wouldn’t Russia or China give to know how our nation’s leaders might respond to a provocation against Ukraine or Taiwan — or how they might exploit this information to our detriment? That is why those entrusted with our nation’s secrets are bound under penalty of law to protect those secrets. And it is why we cannot normalize leaks of those secrets.
Which brings us to Colin Kahl, Joe Biden’s vice-presidential national security adviser who has been nominated to the number-three position at the Pentagon: the undersecretary of Defense for policy.
When I served on the National Security Council (NSC) from Jan. 20, 2017, to Feb. 21, 2020, I participated closely in the NSC’s classified policy process. All of us who did so were responsible for countering and, whenever possible, preventing leaks of classified and otherwise sensitive information. Particularly in the early days of the administration, it sometimes was an uphill battle.
On Dec. 20, 2017, a foreign newspaper — citing “two former US officials familiar with current thinking and a third figure in the administration” — reported that the Trump administration was examining possible military options against North Korea. This information was classified.
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Michele Flournoy, Doug Wilson & Dr Colin Kahl: The Politics of National Security – Inside Politics with Bill Schneider – September 2012 by Third Way Think Tank is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Coates previously served as the Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council staff and the Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Energy in the Donald J. Trump administration. She also served as the National Security Advisor in the office of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and as Director of Research for (former) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s 2011 memoir, Known and Unknown.
Coates holds a B.A. from Trinity College, a M.A. from Williams College, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, all in art history. Coates is the author and presenter of dozens of publications and conference papers worldwide on the intersections of art and history, including David’s Sling: A History of Democracy in Ten Works of Art (Encounter Books, 2016) and the forthcoming Seeing the Light: A History of Christianity in Twelve Works of Art (under contract with Encounter Books), which are part of a projected trilogy on the key tenets of Western Civilization: democracy, the Judeo-Christian moral code, and the primacy of the individual.
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