Lobbying firm WestExec, which has incestuous ties with the Biden administration, has quietly hired two top officials with the CIA and it is not the first time they have done so.

This fits a pattern of federal leaders taking positions at lobbying firms where they can continue to pull in big bucks. CIA officials have also been popping up at Big Tech companies in another alarming trend.

Two agents who have each served in the CIA for over three decades, Kevin Higgins and Paul Farley, are now top advisers at the secretive and influential consulting firm WestExec Advisors, according to The Hill.

WestExec co-founder and Managing Partner Nitin Chadda asserted that their experience “has proven critical in enabling our clients to access and navigate new business opportunities in the U.S. and internationally.”

Lobbying World: WestExec adds CIA alums
– thehill

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— News Verse (@NewsVerseBot) August 30, 2023

WestExec is not just cozy with the CIA. The firm is actually in President Biden’s White House according to The Intercept which reported on it two years ago. There appears to be an extremely incestuous relationship between that particular lobbying firm and the federal government.

Over 15 executives left the firm to join the Biden administration when the president took office. Now you see CIA agents leaving to join that same firm. Notably, former CIA Director James Brennan joined WestExec as a principal in 2022, according to Executive Biz. He was allegedly sought out for his geopolitical and strategic expertise.

Obama CIA Director John Brennan has joined WestExec Advisors, the consulting firm co-founded by Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken (& for which Biden’s Director of National Intel Avril Haines, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Deputy AG Lisa Monaco, etc. all did work). pic.twitter.com/194z3Aa1PP

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) April 12, 2022

“FROM ITS HEADQUARTERS just blocks from the White House, a small, high-powered team of former ambassadors, lawyers, and Obama appointees has spent the past few years solving problems for the world’s biggest companies,” The Intercept reported in 2021.

“Less than six months into the Biden administration, more than 15 consultants from the firm WestExec Advisors have fanned out across the White House, its foreign policy apparatus, and its law enforcement institutions. Five, some of whom already have jobs with the administration, have been nominated for high-ranking posts, and four others served on the Biden-Harris transition team,” the investigative media outlet noted.

“Even by Washington standards, it’s a remarkable march through the revolving door, especially for a firm that only launched in 2017. The pipeline has produced a dominance of WestExec alums throughout the administration, installed in senior roles as influential as director of national intelligence and secretary of state. WestExec clients, meanwhile, have controversial interests in tech and defense that intersect with the policies their former consultants are now in a position to set and execute,” The Intercept continued.

The back and forth between the Biden administration and WestExec appears to be a very concerning conflict of interest, to say the least.

(Video Credit: The Hill)

You will definitely recognize some of the names in the Biden administration connected to WestExec:

• Antony Blinken – Secretary of State
  WestExec – 2017-2020 Co-Founder and Managing Partner
• Avril Haines – Director of National Intelligence
  WestExec – 2017-2020 Principal
• David Cohen – Deputy Director – CIA
  WestExec – 2018-2020 Principal
• Lisa Monaco – Deputy Attorney General
  WestExec – 2018-2020 Principal
• Chris Inglis – National Cyber Director
  WestExec – 2018-2021 Principal
• Jen Psaki – White House Press Secretary
  WestExec – 2017-2020 Senior Adviser
• Ely Ratner – Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indio-Pacific Security Affairs
  WestExec – 2017-2021 Senior Adviser

At least 21 of the 38 WestExec employees listed on the firm’s website donated to the Biden campaign, according to Politico.

Under a financial disclosure filed by the Biden transition team in December 2020, Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken founder of WestExec Advisors declared that clients of WestExec included: “investment giant Blackstone, Bank of America, Facebook,

— Antar (@MarkGolden16) August 28, 2023

Other political leaders have joined lobbying firms as well although the political connections are not nearly as brazen as with WestExec.

Weston Loyd, who was the communications director for a gubernatorial campaign and previously helped lead communications for the Trump White House and 2020 campaign, has joined the Consumer Bankers Association as vice president and press secretary, according to The Hill.

Michael Magdelinskas, who worked as the head of legislative and regulatory policy for transit bikes and scooters at Lyft, has joined Accenture as the Northeast government relations lead.

Robin Calleja and Kelcey McClung both took positions with the strategic communications team at Seven Letter as managers. Calleja is a former teacher and digital communication specialist for Filipino Americans for Biden-Harris. McClung is a former reporter who worked for the US Global Leadership Coalition.

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