Friday, November 2, 2012

Think Tankers Jockey for Romney Cabinet Posts

A variety of powerful think tankers are being rumored as candidates to fill top posts in the Mitt Romney Administration should be win next week's election.

Among them include:
  • Robert Zoellick, former George W. Bush Administration official who recently stepped down as head of the World Bank, is being mentioned as a possible head of the State Department or Treasury Department.  He is now a Distinguished Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) and a Senior Fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center.
  • John Bolton, former Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security as well as US Permanent Representative to the UN, is a possible pick for Secretary of State.  He is a Senior Fellow at American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
  • Richard Williamson, a top foreign policy official in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations, is a possible pick for National Security Adviser.  He is currently on a leave of absence from the Brookings Institution.
  • Dan Senor, Chief Spokesman in the Bush Administration for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, would likely be named to a top security position.  He is an Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
  • Richard Haass, former Director for Policy Planning at the State Department, is named as a possible pick for Secretary of State.  He is the President of CFR.
  • Mitchell Reiss, Director of the Office of Policy and Planning at the State Department, is mentioned as a possible pick for a top foreign policy post.  He is on the Board of Directors at CNAS.
  • Elliott Abrams, Bush's Deputy National Security Advisor, is mentioned as a possible pick for a top foreign policy post.  He is a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at CFR.