Trump team working to remove top NATO official

[workinclasszero]

Trump team working to remove top NATO official
By Josh Rogin December 13 at 7:01 AM

The incoming Trump administration is looking to get rid of the No. 2 official at NATO, an American nominated by President Obama whom most Republicans don’t trust. But NATO’s Brussels leadership may not play along, setting up an early confrontation with President Trump.

Two Trump transition sources told me that a representative of the transition team met late last month with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels and delivered a private but deliberate message: The incoming administration would like Stoltenberg to replace Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller. Gottemoeller, who was nominated for the post by Obama this past March, started her job in Brussels only in October and has a multi-year contract. She works for NATO, not the U.S. government.

If NATO leadership agreed to remove Gottemoeller, it would set a new precedent for U.S. government control over American officials in top NATO positions. If the NATO leadership doesn’t agree, the incoming Trump administration could work to marginalize Gottemoeller and render her ineffective. Either way, her role is set to change when the new U.S. president comes into office.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2016/12/13/trump-team-working-to-remove-top-nato-official/?utm_term=.84c5247e0dd0

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. I'm sure Putin has a few suggestions for a replacement

[workinclasszero]

3. And so it begins...

Trump leading the way to neuter NATO for his empire building pal dictator Putin.

The EU is in deep shit IMO.

[elleng]

4. 'Before returning to government, she was a senior associate in the Carnegie Russia & Eurasia

Program in Washington, D.C., where she worked on U.S.–Russian relations and nuclear security and stability. While with Carnegie, Gottemoeller led consultative Track II meetings with Russian nuclear experts. She also served as the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center from January 2006 to December 2008.[1]

Gottemoeller was formerly the Deputy Under Secretary of Energy for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at the U.S Department of Energy. She had previously held the post of Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation and National Security, also at the Department of Energy (DOE). At DOE, Gottemoeller was responsible for all nonproliferation cooperation with Russia and the Newly Independent States. She first joined the Department of Energy in November 1997 as director of the Office of Nonproliferation and National Security.[1]

Prior to her work at the Department of Energy, Gottemoeller served for three years as Deputy Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. From 1993 to 1994, she served on the National Security Council in the White House as director for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia Affairs, with responsibility for denuclearization in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. Previously, she was a social scientist at RAND and a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. She has taught Soviet military policy and Russian security at Georgetown University.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Gottemoeller

She knows too much.

[FarCenter]

5. Apparently, she is too soft on Russia

The move against Gottemoeller is not so much about Trump’s positions on NATO as it is about long-standing complaints by Republican members of Congress and conservative arms control officials about Gottemoeller herself. She has long been criticized by Republican hawks as being too soft on Russia and she stands accused of withholding information about Russian cheating on treaties from both Congress and NATO allies.

“My colleagues and I consider Ms. Gottemoeller to have systematically misled and concealed information from the Congress about Russian arms control violations,” said House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.). “I can’t imagine working with Ms. Gottemoeller as the Congress considers how to strengthen deterrence and assurance in Europe.”

When Obama appointed Gottemoeller as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security in 2014, three leading GOP senators opposed her nomination and accused her of failing to notify Congress and NATO allies of Russian violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

[DURHAM D]

7. Who were the three senators? nt

[FarCenter]

8. Senators Cornyn, Risch and Rubio: Gottemoeller Nomination Should Not Move Forward

https://votesmart.org/public-statement/852347/senators-cornyn-risch-and-rubio-gottemoeller-nomination-should-not-move-forward

[DURHAM D]

6. I want to know exactly who from the transition team made

that trip to Brussels.