Biden quietly adds Goldman Sachs, Big Tech employees to transition team
The appointees will serve on agency review teams for the Departments of State and Homeland Security, International Development, the Intelligence Community, and the Small Business Administration.
The Biden transition team has quietly added a group of people that will likely face pushback from the progressive wing of the Democratic party, including two Goldman Sachs veterans, one Google employee and three Facebook employees.
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According to a review of the transition team's website, Goldman Sachs' head of cybersecurity regulation, policy, and strategy Eric Goldstein has been appointed to the review team for the Department of Homeland Security while Monica Maher, who is currently the vice president of cyber threat intelligence at Goldman, has been appointed to the transition's National Security Council Review team.
A Biden transition official told Politico that Goldstein and Maher both have cybersecurity expertise, which is particularly valuable given the Trump administration’s admission that hackers had breached the Treasury Department and other agencies.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GS | THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC. | 589.67 | +7.84 | +1.35% |
| FB | NO DATA AVAILABLE | - | - | - |
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 167.25 | -8.73 | -4.96% |
Also added to the team is Zaid Zaid, a former special assistant to the president and associate White House counsel under the Obama Administration and current team member at Facebook's public policy, Strategic Response, who will serve on the review teams for the Department of State and International Development, Facebook's manager of governance & strategic initiatives Christopher Upperman, who will serve on the Small Business Administration and Facebook's director & associate general counsel of strategic response Rachel Lieber, who will serve on the review team for the Intelligence Community.
In addition, Google global program manager Deon Scott will serve on the Department of Homeland Security review team.
Representatives for the Biden transition team, Goldman Sachs, Facebook and Google did not immediately return FOX Business' requests for comment.
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The latest appointees with Wall Street ties come following Biden's nomination of retired army general Lloyd Austin for Secretary of Defense. Austin earned more than $350,000 last year as a member of military contractor Raytheon's board of directors, according to company filings. In addition, the Biden team announced earlier this month that former Obama adviser and BlackRock executive Brian Deese will head the National Economic Council.
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