Biden’s NSC to focus on global health, climate, cyber and human rights, as well as China and Russia

Washington Post logo

The incoming Biden administration plans to restructure and expand the operations of the White House National Security Council, establishing new senior positions on global health, democracy and human rights, and cyber and emerging technology, signaling a sweeping shift in priorities, according to a senior adviser to the Biden transition.

Russia, which the Trump administration had subsumed into the NSC directorate for European affairs, will again be given its own NSC senior director, the adviser said, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the plans and positions were announced Friday.

“We expect to be taking a stronger position on China than has been the case in past Democratic administrations,” with significant new staff positions to handle “a much more assertive China abroad and a much more repressive China” at home, the adviser said. Continue reading.

Biden taps intelligence veteran for new White House cybersecurity role

Anne Neuberger, the NSA’s director of cybersecurity, will join Biden’s National Security Council.

President-elect Joe Biden plans to pluck a career intelligence official from the National Security Agency to serve in a newly created cybersecurity role on his National Security Council.

Anne Neuberger, who joined the NSA more than a decade ago and has been serving as the agency’s director of cybersecurity since 2019, will be named deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity in the incoming NSC, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Neuberger’s hiring indicates that the Biden White House intends to reelevate cybersecurity as a key national security priority, after President Donald Trump eliminated the role of cybersecurity coordinator in 2018. Continue reading.