Anti-Corruption Allies in the Biden Administration

26 January 2021

	Rebecca Brocato, Senior Director for Legislative Affairs, has been vocal about the importance of stemming the flow of dirty money into the United States and co-authored a 2019 Washington Post op-ed with Jake Sullivan in support of beneficial ownership transparency legislation. She was most recently Director of Strategy and Government Affairs at National Security Action.
	Peter Harrell, Senior Director for International Economics and Competitiveness, has published and testified before Congress about sanctions and other geoeconomic tools. He was most recently an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and a lawyer in private practice.
	Shanthi Kalathil, Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights, has dedicated her career to researching authoritarianism, kleptocracy and other challenges to democracy. She was most recently senior director of the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy.
	Lisa Monaco, nominated for Deputy Attorney General, has prosecuted “a range of crimes from violent crime to fraud and public corruption cases” and served on the Enron Task Force in her capacity as a District of Columbia Assistant U.S. Attorney. She served President Obama as Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor.
	Former Amb. Samantha Power, nominated for Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has been an anti-corruption ally throughout her career, including during her time with the Obama administration. She recently argued in Foreign Affairs that President Biden should make anti-corruption “a centerpiece of his international agenda.”
	Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor, was recently profiled in POLITICO and named as one of his goals “to rally our allies to combat corruption and kleptocracy, and to hold systems of authoritarian capitalism accountable for greater transparency and participation in a rules-based system.”
	Janet Yellen, confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury, during her confirmation hearing thanked Congress for banning anonymous shell companies, noting that the new law will “make a big difference in our ability to address terrorist financing and improve the effectiveness of sanctions.” She called the beneficial ownership registry mandated by the law an “enormously potent tool” and affirmed that implementing it will be a very high priority.

Finally, President Biden has committed to implementing ethics reforms and stemming the flow of dirty money into the United States, as well as countering corruption abroad. Read TRACE President Alexandra Wrage and former Amb. Michelle D. Gavin’s thoughts in Foreign Policy about President Biden’s commitments to anti-corruption and actions he can take in his first 100 days.