[Senate Hearing 117-4]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-4
NOMINATION OF HON. ANTONY J. BLINKEN
TO BE SECRETARY OF STATE-PART II
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HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
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JANUARY 19, 2021
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Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations
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Available via the World Wide Web:
http://www.govinfo.gov
NOMINATION OF ANTONY J. BLINKEN
TO BE SECRETARY OF STATE--PART II
S. Hrg. 117-4
NOMINATION OF HON. ANTONY J. BLINKEN
TO BE SECRETARY OF STATE_PART II
=======================================================================
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JANUARY 19, 2021
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
43-891 PDF WASHINGTON : 2021
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
One Hundred Sixteenth Congress
JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho, Chairman
MARCO RUBIO, Florida ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland
CORY GARDNER, Colorado JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire
MITT ROMNEY, Utah CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware
LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina TOM UDALL, New Mexico
JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming TIM KAINE, Virginia
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
TODD YOUNG, Indiana CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
TED CRUZ, Texas
Christopher M. Socha, Staff Director
Jessica Lewis, Democratic Staff Director
John Dutton, Chief Clerk
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
One Hundred Seventeenth Congress
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey, Chairman
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire MARCO RUBIO, Florida
CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut MITT ROMNEY, Utah
TIM KAINE, Virginia ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts RAND PAUL, Kentucky
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon TODD YOUNG, Indiana
CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii TED CRUZ, Texas
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota
BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
Jessica Lewis, Staff Director
Christopher M. Socha, Republican Staff Director
John Dutton, Chief Clerk
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
PART I
Risch, Hon. James E., U.S. Senator from Idaho.................... 1
Durbin, Hon. Richard J., U.S. Senator from Illinois.............. 2
Menendez, Hon. Robert, U.S. Senator from New Jersey.............. 6
Blinken, Antony J., of New York, Nominated to be Secretary of
State.......................................................... 9
Prepared statement........................................... 11
Additional Material Submitted for the Record
Statements Submitted to the Committee Supporting Hon. Antony J.
Blinken's Nomination to be Secretary of State--[Placed in the
Record by Senator Robert Menendez]............................. 85
Remarks Made in the Senate by Senator John McCain Opposing the
Confirmation of Antony J. Blinken to be Deputy Secretary of
State-- December 16, 2014--[Placed in the Record by Senator
John Barrasso]................................................. 121
Additional Questions for the Record Submitted by Senator James E.
Risch
Responses to Questions Submitted Prior to the Hearing of
January 19, 2021 to Hon. Antony J. Blinken by Senator James
E. Risch................................................... 129
Responses to Follow-Up Questions Submitted Prior to the
Hearing of January 19, 2021 to Hon. Antony J. Blinken by
Senator James E. Risch..................................... 141
Questions for the Record Submitted to Hon. Antony J. Blinken
by Senator James E. Risch--[as originally submitted--
questions only]............................................ 155
Responses to Questions Submitted to Hon. Antony J. Blinken by
Senator James E. Risch--[Secretary-Designate Blinken's
First Responses to Senator Risch's Questions].............. 281
Responses to Questions [Questions #1 to #167] Submitted to
Hon. Antony J. Blinken by Senator James E. Risch--
Reformatted and Resubmitted [continued in Part II]......... 473
PART II
Responses to Questions [Questions #168 to #472] Submitted to
Hon. Antony J. Blinken by Senator James E. Risch--
Reformatted and Resubmitted [continued from Part I]........ 703
Responses to Questions Resubmitted to Hon. Antony J. Blinken
by Senator James E. Risch.................................. 1055
Responses to Questions Submitted to Hon. Antony J. Blinken by
Other Members of the Committee................................. 1297
(iii)
NOMINATION OF ANTONY J. BLINKEN TO BE U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE-PART II
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2021
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Foreign Relations,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:04 p.m. Russell
Senate Office Building, Room 301, and via Webex, Hon. James E.
Risch, chairman of the committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Risch [presiding], Rubio, Johnson,
Romney, Graham, Barrasso, Portman, Paul, Young, Cruz, Menendez,
Cardin, Shaheen, Coons, Murphy, Kaine, Markey, Merkley, and
Booker.
Also Present: Senator Durbin.
[Due to the total number of pages, it was necessary to
divide this hearing transcript into two parts.]
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Responses to Questions
[Questions #168 to #472]
Submitted to Hon. Antony J. Blinken
by Senator James E. Risch
Secretary-Designate Blinken's Reformatted Questions
and Responses [continued from Part I] \1\
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\1\ The first set of responses were considered unacceptable [see
the footnote on page 281 in Part I for a more detailed explanation].
The State Department offered to reformat what the Transition Team had
sent into the numbering system used in the as-submitted Risch QFRs.
These responses were not substantively different from what the
Transition Team had sent. This also included the questions that had
been omitted from the first response document.
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[Printer's note: The questions and responses that follow
are copies of the original material received by the committee.
Throughout, there are a few blank pages, as well as consecutive
short pages with very little text. These pages appeared in the
original documents received from the Department of State and
are the result of typing errors. They are not an indication of
an incomplete response.]
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Responses to Questions
Resubmitted to Hon. Antony J. Blinken
by Senator James E. Risch \1\
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\1\ Many of the responses we received in the initial responses
(Secretary-Designate Blinken's responses in the reformatted version)
were unresponsive to the questions asked, so we re-submitted that list
of unresponsive answers to State. The attached are their responses to
that list of questions only (not a full list of responses).--Senator
Risch's staff.
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Responses to Questions Submitted to
Hon. Antony Blinken by Other Members of the Committee
Senators Menendez, Rubio, Cardin, Romney, Kaine, Young, Murphy,
Barrasso, Markey, Cruz, Booker, Hagerty
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