一些加入拜登政府的高级官员一直在客户名单不透明的咨询公司工作，道德专家警告说，这可能会削弱拜登总统确保美国人对其领导人独立性的信心的努力。

在选择内阁级别的任命者和机构负责人时，拜登表现出了对政府服务老兵的偏好，其中许多人在担任私营部门的企业客户华盛顿顾问后，正回到权力杠杆的控制中。

拜登的许多选择都通过了公共和私人工作之间的旋转门，但从未出现在K Street游说公司的官方登记册上，这些公司必须遵守严格的报告规则，要求它们向美国政府披露客户和他们联系的政府机构的名称。相反，道德专家表示，许多人已经走过了企业咨询和地缘政治风险管理的黑暗通道——这些工作可以秘密进行，通常受到保密协议的保护。

拜登任命的精品华盛顿公司包括宏观咨询合作伙伴、奥尔布赖特·斯顿布奇集团和韦斯特克公司。这些公司和其他像他们一样的公司吹嘘他们的内部关系和他们的合作伙伴的政府经验，他们为一系列公司担任顾问。虽然不履行直接游说职能，但顾问为这些公司的客户提供指导和建议，以引导联邦政策和法规。如果指南被用来直接或间接影响公共政策，这种做法被伦理专家称为“影子游说”。

总部位于华盛顿的非营利组织竞选法律中心的道德法律顾问德莱尼·马斯科(Delaney Marsco)表示:“他们不一定要签订游说合同，也不一定要直接从事根据[游说披露]法案被定义为游说的工作，所以他们不必提交游说披露报告。”“所以这是个问题。那是漏洞。”

相反，这些公司以顾问的身份运作——通过庞大的政府基础设施指导私人实体，并利用他们在之前的角色中收集的知识为客户的决策提供信息——而不直接游说政府。这种模式允许顾问避免披露客户，除非他们后来成为政府官员。

即使是从事公共服务的顾问，如果他们受到保密协议的约束，或者如果他们的前客户支付给他们的报酬低于5000美元，也不需要披露他们的客户。如果他们只是在公司扮演一般的战略顾问角色，他们也没有义务披露客户。

“我们现在有这些没有太多透明度的私人实体，”无党派的好政府组织华盛顿公民责任和道德组织的首席道德顾问弗吉尼亚·坎特说。“如果我们对他们有更多的了解，那就更好了，但我们还没有到那一步。”

两个政党都在不同程度上反对华盛顿的“沼泽”——这种观点认为，内部人士多年来一直主导着权力走廊，以造福富人和人脉广泛的人，通常是以牺牲普通美国人的利益为代价。近几十年来，两党的前官员都倾向于不需要游说披露的咨询服务。

在特朗普政府期间，唐纳德·特朗普的亲密盟友，包括前特朗普竞选经理科里·莱万多夫斯基(Corey Lewandowski)和特朗普的密友兼筹款人布莱恩·巴拉德(Brian Ballard)经营着利润丰厚的游说业务，尽管特朗普承诺“抽干沼泽”，但数百名其他游说者仍围绕特朗普政府。

拜登团队发言人安德鲁·贝茨(Andrew Bates)在给美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)的一份声明中写道，拜登团队誓言要成为“美国历史上道德最严格的政府”。

贝茨说:“每个内阁成员都将遵守所有的披露要求和严格的道德规则——包括在适当的时候回避。”。

披露前客户

在上任的第一天，拜登试图通过发布道德规则来直接回应这些担忧，他说“每个行政机构的每个被任命者”都必须签署道德规则。与奥巴马和特朗普政府的道德规则相似，拜登的道德令禁止官员在未来两年内处理“涉及特定方”或与前雇主或前客户“直接和实质性相关”的问题，并禁止官员在离开政府后两年内游说行政部门或注册为外国代理人。

此外，拜登的道德令试图通过禁止官员离职后两年内与政府官员沟通来遏制其政府后的“影子游说”。

两党政府道德倡导组织议题一(Issue One)的执行董事梅雷迪思·麦基(Meredith McGehee)表示，鉴于她所说的特朗普政府宽松的道德实践，拜登政府“超越”现有的法律要求，进行更多“稳健的披露”是“至关重要的”。

“他的官员迫切需要竭尽全力确保公众认为决策者首先考虑的是公众利益，而不是他们过去的关系，”麦基说。

拜登任命的几个人采取了额外的步骤，披露他们以前的客户。但由于披露截止日期和要求不同，至少有几名以前在宏观咨询伙伴公司工作的新政府高级官员尚未提交披露报告。

即将上任的国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文、退伍军人事务部长提名人丹尼斯·麦克唐纳和中央情报局局长提名人威廉·伯恩斯最近都在这家总部位于伦敦和纽约的公司工作，该公司自称是“一家为商业、金融和非营利部门的决策者提供可操作的宏观战略的公司”。

该公司的名册上至少有10名奥巴马时代的官员，该公司没有披露其客户。它的网站间接提到了它为“一家在中国有业务的行业领先的跨国消费品公司”和“一家在中东市场开展业务的全球金融服务公司”所做的工作。

在三名被提名者中，麦克多诺是唯一一个通过向政府道德办公室提交的披露报告公布宏观咨询伙伴公司客户名单的人，而伯恩斯和沙利文预计将在未来几天或几周内提交报告。

在他的披露表中，麦克多诺报告称向葛兰素史克、普华永道、万事达卡、德国电信和苹果提供了战略建议，但没有具体说明这些是否是宏观咨询合作伙伴的客户。拜登的一名过渡官员后来向美国广播公司澄清说，这些公司是他在宏观咨询伙伴公司的客户。麦克多诺报告说，在过去两年里，该公司的工资至少为248，000美元。

麦克多诺(McDonough)预计将在未来几周面临参议院的确认，他已同意辞去在该公司的职务，并回避与他以前的宏观咨询合伙人客户有关的任何事项。

退伍军人事务部新闻秘书特伦斯·海斯拒绝对麦克唐纳的咨询工作发表评论。

沙利文在担任民主党人希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)2016年总统竞选的外交政策顾问后，于2017年加入宏观咨询合作伙伴(Macro Advisory Partners)，但他在宏观咨询合作伙伴(Macro Advisory Partners)的工作细节仍不清楚。

在回答美国广播公司新闻部关于沙利文咨询工作的问题时，国家安全委员会的发言人指出了拜登政府的道德秩序。周一，在这篇报道发表后，发言人告诉美国广播公司新闻，沙利文计划在他的披露表格中披露他的客户。

伯恩斯在国务院工作了几十年后，加入了该公司的全球咨询委员会，因此可能没有特定的客户。他还没有提交他的披露表，也没有披露他在公司期间的任何前客户。中央情报局发言人妮可·德·海伊就伯恩斯在公司的工作接受了宏观咨询合伙人的采访。

“宏观咨询合作伙伴是一家战略咨询公司，为其客户解释全球发展，并分析其对商业战略的影响，”宏观咨询合作伙伴的一名发言人在给美国广播公司新闻的声明中写道，但该发言人没有回答有关沙利文和伯恩斯在该公司工作的问题。

超出最低要求

另一位即将加入新政府的奥巴马时代外交官温迪·谢尔曼(Wendy Sherman)也在私人战略咨询领域循环往复。谢尔曼被任命为副国务卿，他曾担任奥尔布赖特·斯通布里奇集团的高级顾问，这是一家由前国务卿马德琳·奥尔布赖特主持的咨询公司。谢尔曼还没有确定她的客户。

奥尔布赖特·斯顿布奇集团还雇佣了即将上任的联合国大使琳达·托马斯·格林菲尔德，根据她的披露报告，她在过去两年里从该公司获得了50多万美元的工资、利润分成奖金和咨询费。她已经确定了她的前客户，包括希尔顿、亚马逊、微软、比尔和梅林达·盖茨基金会和奋进能源控股公司。

关于托马斯-格林菲尔德的咨询工作，拜登的一名过渡官员告诉美国广播公司新闻，托马斯-格林菲尔德帮助企业在非洲大陆寻求经济机会，并向比尔和梅林达·盖茨基金会提供战略建议，但从未游说，也从未代表任何外国政府。

像伯恩斯一样，谢尔曼一旦提交披露报告，就不清楚她是否会披露她在奥尔布赖特·斯顿布奇集团的客户。托马斯·格林菲尔德和奥尔布赖特·斯顿布奇集团的代表都没有回应美国广播公司新闻的置评请求。

与托马斯·格林菲尔德相似，即将上任的国务卿托尼·布林肯(Tony Blinken)公布了一份他私人咨询工作的客户名单。2018年，他帮助成立了WestExec公司，该公司利用了其团队的高级政府经验。

德莱尼说，Blinken是一个官员如何超越最低要求提供额外透明度的例子。这位新的国务院主任的公司此前曾表示，它受保密协议的约束。去年12月，在过渡团队表示他正在从他的前客户那里“获得许可”后，他在公开的财务披露表中公布了他在WestExec的主要客户名单。

这份名单包括许多银行和金融公司，如黑石、拉扎尔德、松岛资本合伙人和加拿大皇家银行，以及其他大公司，如联邦快递、微软、AT&T、波音和Facebook。在财务披露表中，Blinken报告说，他在过去两年中从WestExec获得了100多万美元，并在12月份达成了一项从该公司剥离的协议。

在与披露报告一起提交的道德协议中，Blinken写道，除非得到特别批准，否则他不会参与可能涉及WestExec工作的事项，直到两年后他的撤资费用全部付清。他还表示，除非获得授权，否则他不会“亲自和实质性地”参与任何涉及他在最后一次为客户服务后一年内与之共事的前WestExec客户的“特定”事宜。

国务院发言人内德·普莱斯在给美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中写道:“布林肯部长已经明确表示，他希望他的团队遵守最严格的道德标准，我们唯一的考虑将是国家利益。”"每个国务院官员都将遵守适用的披露要求和严格的道德规范——包括在适当的时候回避."

对规则的理解

新任白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)曾担任WestExec的高级顾问，拜登选择的国家情报总监艾薇儿·海因斯(Avril Haines)是该公司的负责人和顾问。该公司的另一名顾问伊利·拉特纳(Ely Ratner)最近也加入了拜登政府，担任五角大楼负责中国事务的首席顾问。

海恩斯报告称，摩根大通、微软和开放慈善是她在该公司的客户。她在上周的确认听证会上说，她平均每月为韦斯特克公司工作不到一天。她还表示，她没有代表任何外国实体通过WestExec进行咨询。

国家情报局局长办公室的公共事务官员迈克尔·卡普兰告诉美国广播公司新闻，海因斯在宣誓就职后不久就接受了道德简报，以确保她继续遵守所有法律义务。这位发言人补充说，海因斯曾是政府指定的道德官员，因此“理解这些规则，并非常理解遵守这些规则的必要性。”

Psaki和Ratner还没有提交他们的披露表格，因为不同的披露截止日期。

根据她在LinkedIn的简介，Psaki是WestExec的高级顾问，她服役担任卡内基国际和平基金会负责传播和战略的副总裁。她也是CNN的撰稿人。一名过渡官员告诉记者《纽约时报》去年11月，普萨基作为外部承包商，花了相对有限的时间与韦斯特克公司合作。

拉特纳以前在WestExec中的角色尚不清楚。

国防部没有回应关于拉特纳的评论请求。WestExec的代表也没有回复ABC新闻。

坎特说，顾问旋转门不是新现象。她指出，特朗普政府期间出现了许多冲突，例如总统大家庭不透明的房地产交易，以及他在酒店和高尔夫俱乐部的股份，这些股份有时会迎合外国和游说客户。

她说，到目前为止，大多数披露了自己财务利益的拜登官员似乎都采取了适当的措施来披露他们的客户，并解除他们与私营部门的联系。

​然而，坎特说，“我希望它更加透明，也许我们应该在强制披露方面做得更多。”

 

Watchdogs concerned about some Biden appointees' opaque consulting work​​

 

 

 

A number of senior officials joining the Biden administration have been working in consulting firms with opaque client lists, which ethics experts warn may undercut President Joe Biden's efforts to ensure Americans have faith in the independence of its leaders.

In choosing his cabinet-level appointees and agency heads, Biden has demonstrated a preference for veterans of government service, many of whom are returning to control the levers of power after holding private-sector jobs as Washington consultants for corporate clients.

Many of Biden's picks have passed through the revolving door between public and private work, but have done so without ever appearing on the official registry of K Street lobbying firms, which must follow strict reporting rules that require them to disclose to the U.S. government the names of clients and the government agencies they contact. Instead, ethics experts say many have navigated the murky alleyways of corporate consulting and geopolitical risk management -- work that can occur in secret, often protected by confidentiality agreements.

Among the boutique D.C. firms from which Biden appointees have come are Macro Advisory Partners, Albright Stonebridge Group, and WestExec. These firms and others like them tout their insider connections and the government experience of their partners, who serve as consultants for a range of companies. While not performing direct lobbying functions, consultants offer these firms' clients guidance and advice about navigating federal policy and regulations. If the guidance is used to directly or indirectly influence public policy, the practice is referred to by ethics experts as "shadow lobbying."

"They're not necessarily making a lobbying contract or doing the direct work of what would be defined as lobbying under the [Lobbying Disclosure] Act, so they don't have to file lobbying disclosure reports," said Delaney Marsco, ethics legal counsel for the Washington-based nonprofit Campaign Legal Center. "So that's a problem. That's a loophole."

Instead, these firms operate as consultants -- guiding private entities through the massive government infrastructure and leveraging knowledge gleaned during their prior roles to inform their clients' decisions -- without directly lobbying the government. This model allows the consultants to avoid disclosing clients, unless they later go on to become public officials.

And even consultants who go on to public service aren't required to disclose clients if they were bound by a nondisclosure agreement or if their former clients paid them less than $5,000. They also aren't obligated to disclose clients if they only played a general strategic advisory role at the firm.

"We now have these private entities that don't have a lot of transparency," said Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel at the nonpartisan good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). "It would be better if we knew more about them, but we're not there yet."

Both political parties have to various degrees crusaded against the "swamp" of Washington -- the idea that insiders have for years dominated the corridors of power to benefit the wealthy and well-connected, often at the expense of regular Americans. And in recent decades, former officials on both sides of the aisle have gravitated toward the kind of consulting that does not require lobbying disclosure.

During the Trump administration, close allies of Donald Trump including former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and Trump confidant and fundraiser Brian Ballard ran lucrative lobbying businesses, and hundreds of other lobbyists revolved around the Trump administration despite Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp."

For its part, the Biden team has vowed to be "the most ethically rigorous administration in American history," Biden transition team spokesperson Andrew Bates wrote in a statement to ABC News.

"Every cabinet member will abide by all disclosure requirements and strict ethics rules -- including recusals when appropriate," Bates said.

Disclosing former clients

On his first day in office, Biden tried to speak directly to those concerns by issuing ethics rules that he said "every appointee in every executive agency" must sign. Similar to the ethics rules of the Obama and Trump administrations, Biden's ethics order prohibits officials from dealing with issues "involving specific parties" or ones "directly and substantially related" to a former employer or former client for the next two years, and prevents officials from lobbying the executive branch or registering as foreign agents for two years after leaving the administration.

In addition, Biden's ethics order attempts to curtail his officials' post-government "shadow lobbying" by prohibiting them from communicating with administration officials for two years after leaving their posts.

Meredith McGehee, the executive director at the bipartisan government ethics advocacy group Issue One, said that given what she called the Trump administration's lax ethics practices, it is "critically important" for the Biden administration to "go above and beyond" existing legal requirements to do more "robust disclosure."

"There is an urgent need for his officials to bend over backwards to ensure the public that first and foremost in the minds of decision-makers will be the public interest and not their past relationships," McGehee said.

Several of Biden's appointees have taken the added step of disclosing their former clients. But at least a couple high-ranking members of the new administration who have previously worked for the firm Macro Advisory Partners have yet to file their disclosure reports due to varying disclosure deadlines and requirements.

Incoming National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Veterans Affairs Secretary nominee Denis McDonough and CIA Director nominee William Burns all recently worked for the London- and New York-based company, which describes itself as "a firm that delivers actionable macro strategies to decision-makers in business, finance and the not-for-profit sector."

The company, with a roster that includes at least ten Obama-era officials, does not disclose its clients. Its website makes oblique references to work it does for "an industry-leading multinational consumer goods company" with a footprint in China, and "a global financial services company" doing business in Middle Eastern markets.

Of the three nominees, McDonough is the only one who has released the list of his clients at Macro Advisory Partners through his disclosure report to the Office of Government Ethics, while Burns and Sullivan are expected to file their reports in coming days or weeks.

In his disclosure form, McDonough reported providing strategic advice to GlaxoSmithKline, PWC, MasterCard, Deutsche Telekom and Apple, but did not specify whether those were Macro Advisory Partners clients. A Biden transition official later clarified to ABC News that those companies were his clients at Macro Advisory Partners. McDonough reported earning at least $248,000 in salary from the firm over the last two years.

McDonough, who is expected to face Senate confirmation in the coming weeks, has agreed to step down from his position at the firm and recuse himself from any matters related to his former Macro Advisory Partners clients.

Veterans Affairs Department press secretary Terrence Hayes declined to comment on McDonough's consulting work.

Sullivan joined Macro Advisory Partners in 2017 after serving as a foreign policy adviser on Democrat Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, but details of his work at Macro Advisory Partners remain unclear.

In response to ABC News' questions regarding Sullivan's consulting work, a spokesperson for the National Security Council pointed to the Biden administration's ethics order. On Monday, after this story was published, the spokesperson told ABC News that Sullivan plans to disclose his clients in his disclosure form.

Burns served on the firm's Global Advisory Board after decades at the State Department, and thus may not have had specific clients. He has not yet submitted his disclosure forms nor disclosed any former clients from his time at the firm. CIA spokesperson Nicole de Haay deferred to Macro Advisory Partners regarding Burns' work at the firm.

"Macro Advisory Partners is a strategic advisory firm that interprets global developments for its clients and analyses their impact on business strategies," a Macro Advisory Partners spokesperson wrote in a statement to ABC News, but the spokesperson did not respond to questions regarding Sullivan and Burns' work at the firm.

Beyond the minimal requirements

Another Obama-era diplomat set to join the incoming administration, Wendy Sherman, has also cycled through the world of private strategic consulting. Sherman, who's been tapped as deputy secretary of state, has served as a senior counselor at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a consulting firm chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Sherman has not yet identified her clients.

Albright Stonebridge Group also employed incoming U.N. ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who reported earning more than half a million dollars in salary, profit sharing bonuses, and consulting fees from the firm over the last two years, according to her disclosure report. She has identified her former clients, which include Hilton, Amazon, Microsoft, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Endeavor Energy Holdings.

Regarding Thomas-Greenfield's consulting work, a Biden transition official told ABC News that Thomas-Greenfield helped businesses pursue economic opportunities on the African continent and provided strategic advice to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, but never lobbied and never represented any foreign governments.

Like Burns, it's unclear if Sherman will disclose her clients at Albright Stonebridge Group once she files her disclosure report. Neither Thomas-Greenfield or representatives from Albright Stonebridge Group responded to ABC News' request for comment.

Similar to Thomas-Greenfield, incoming Secretary of State Tony Blinken has released a list of clients from his private consulting work. In 2018, he helped found the firm WestExec, which traded on the high-level government experience of its team.

Delaney said that Blinken is an example of how an official can go beyond the minimal requirements to offer additional transparency. The new State Department chief, whose firm had previously said it is bound by nondisclosure agreements, released his list of major clients at WestExec in his financial disclosure form made public in December, after the transition team said he was "obtaining permission" to do so from his former clients.

The list includes a host of banks and financial firms like Blackstone, Lazard, Pine Island Capital Partners and Royal Bank of Canada, as well as other big corporate names like FedEx, Microsoft, AT&T, Boeing and Facebook. In the financial disclosure form, Blinken reported that he made more than $1 million from WestExec over the last two years, and entered into an agreement in December to divest from the firm.

In his ethics agreement filed with his disclosure report, Blinken wrote that he will not participate in matters that could involve WestExec's work unless specifically approved to do so, until he is fully paid out for his divestment in two years. He also said he would not participate "personally and substantially" in any "particular" matter that involves former WestExec clients he worked with for up to a year after his last service to the client, unless authorized to do so.

"Secretary Blinken has made clear that he expects his team to adhere to the strictest ethical standards, and that our only consideration will be the national interest," State Department spokesperson Ned Price wrote in a statement to ABC News. "Every State Department official will abide by applicable disclosure requirements and strict ethics rules -- including recusals when appropriate."

An appreciation for the rules

Jen Psaki, the new White House press secretary, served as a senior adviser at WestExec, and Biden's pick for director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, was a principal and consultant at the firm. Ely Ratner, another adviser at the firm, also recently joined the Biden administration as the Pentagon chief's principal adviser on China matters.

Haines reported that JP Morgan, Microsoft and Open Philanthropy were her clients at the firm. She said during her confirmation hearing last week that she worked for WestExec less than a day per month on average. She also said that she did not consult on behalf of any foreign entities through WestExec.

Michael Kaplun, a public affairs officer for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told ABC News that Haines received an ethics briefing shortly after being sworn in to ensure that she continues to comply with all her legal obligations. The spokesperson added that Haines was once a designated ethics official in the government, and therefore "understands the rules, and has a deep appreciation for the need to abide by them."

Psaki and Ratner have yet to file their disclosure forms because of the varying disclosure deadlines.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Psaki was a senior advisor at WestExec, and she served as the vice president for communications and strategy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace during that time. She was also a contributor at CNN. A transition official told The New York Times in November that Psaki had spent a relatively limited amount of time working with WestExec as an outside contractor.

Ratner’s previous role within WestExec remains unclear.

The Defense Department did not respond to a request for comment regarding Ratner. Representatives from WestExec also did not respond to ABC News.

Canter said the revolving door of consultants is not a new phenomenon. She noted that numerous conflicts surfaced during the Trump administration, such as the opaque real estate dealings of the president's extended family, and his stake in hotels and golf clubs that at times catered to foreign and lobbying clients.

So far, she said, most of the Biden officials who have disclosed their financial interests appear to have taken proper measures to reveal their clients and divest from their private sector ties.

Nevertheless, Canter said, "I'd like it to be more transparent and maybe we should be doing more in terms of forcing disclosure."