[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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