WASHINGTON — When Stephen E. Biegun was sworn in as deputy secretary of state, it was in entrance of an uncommon crowd on the State Division — one
WASHINGTON — When Stephen E. Biegun was sworn in as deputy secretary of state, it was in entrance of an uncommon crowd on the State Division — one which included loyalists to President Trump, but in addition a mixture of Never Trumpers and Democrats.
Denis R. McDonough, President Barack Obama’s White Home chief of employees and deputy nationwide safety adviser, was there that day in December. So was John D. Negroponte, a former director of nationwide intelligence below President George W. Bush who in 2016 refused to vote for Mr. Trump. There have been profession diplomats, congressional officers and nationwide safety consultants from each events who had labored with Mr. Biegun in his varied roles within the Senate, the Nationwide Safety Council and Ford Motor.
Which gave rise to some essential questions: How had Mr. Biegun navigated Trump world to land such a senior place, No. 2 on the State Division? May he calm a simmering revolt amongst profession State Division workers who’ve accused Mr. Biegun’s speedy boss, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, of abandoning veteran diplomats and letting the president’s private political agenda infect foreign policy?
Extra to the purpose, would he even survive?
The job is a threat — Washington is full of people that have catapulted from the Trump administration with reputations diminished — however pals say they’re betting on Mr. Biegun.
“If anybody can work out the right way to navigate it, I believe it may be Steve,” mentioned Stephen J. Hadley, Mr. Bush’s second nationwide safety adviser.
It helps, pals say, that Mr. Biegun has the even temperament of a person who thrives within the background. By no means one to upstage the boss, be it the president or secretary of state, Mr. Biegun is mild-mannered and deferential, the anti-Pompeo.
Whereas Mr. Pompeo is liable to profanity-laced rants, Mr. Biegun is a Republican of one other period who initiatives calm. “He listens,” mentioned Mr. McDonough, who was Mr. Biegun’s Democratic counterpart when the 2 males served because the chief overseas coverage advisers to their events’ Senate leaders within the mid-2000s.
Whereas Mr. Pompeo has sought to bring back “swagger” to diplomacy, Mr. Biegun is described as a cautious negotiator. And whereas Mr. Pompeo allowed a shadow overseas coverage marketing campaign to undermine america Embassy in Ukraine, Mr. Biegun has insisted that, in diplomacy, “politics greatest cease on the water’s edge.”
John R. Beyrle, who was one in every of Mr. Obama’s ambassadors to Moscow, mentioned that Mr. Pompeo most probably seen Mr. Biegun as “any person who might assist ameliorate that just about poisonous state of affairs.”
“So if there’s that vacuum or deficit of belief, which I believe there’s, Steve is properly positioned to fill it,” mentioned Mr. Beyrle, who labored with Mr. Biegun on the board of the U.S.-Russia Basis, which promotes entrepreneurship and schooling with Moscow.
Notably, Mr. Biegun has described Marie L. Yovanovitch, the previous American ambassador in Kyiv who was ordered again to Washington and accused of being disloyal to Mr. Trump, as “a really succesful overseas service officer.”
Since first assembly Ms. Yovanovitch years in the past, once they have been each engaged on Russia coverage, “my esteem has performed nothing however grown for her,” Mr. Biegun informed senators at his affirmation listening to in November.
Colleagues say the key to Mr. Biegun’s success, up to now, is that he gained the belief of Mr. Trump by enabling the president’s bromance with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean chief. Officers mentioned the president twice considered appointing Mr. Biegun as nationwide safety adviser, however made him the chief envoy to North Korea as an alternative. In that job Mr. Biegun has tried to move talks between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim ahead when different administration officers wanted to shut them down.
Mr. Biegun additionally declined to hitch the so-called By no means Trumper motion in 2016, placing him amongst a comparatively small variety of Republicans with high-level overseas coverage expertise who weren’t blacklisted by the White Home after Mr. Trump received the presidential election.
“He’s pals with Republicans and Democrats, he treats individuals properly, he is aware of the right way to function in Washington, he is aware of the suppose tanks, he is aware of the press, he is aware of the diplomatic group,” mentioned John B. Bellinger III, the State Division’s former high lawyer who labored with Mr. Biegun on Mr. Bush’s Nationwide Safety Council.
Born in Detroit to a big household — greater than 30 family members attended his December swearing-in ceremony — Mr. Biegun was in highschool in Pontiac, Mich., when a history teacher wrote the word “czar” on the chalkboard within the Cyrillic alphabet. He was instantly fascinated and went on to check Russian on the College of Michigan.
Mr. Biegun lived in Moscow within the early 1990s, when he labored for the Worldwide Republican Institute, which promotes democracy with some funding from the State Division and america Company for Worldwide Improvement. However he principally developed his nationwide safety credentials on…