Several senior national-security officials from the Trump administration are joining the board of an organization dedicated to confronting the Chinese government’s influence at the state level, National Review has exclusively learned.
State Armor, a new nonprofit that works with state legislators and governors to advocate bills focused on threats posed by Beijing, has notched a series of legislative wins across multiple states since its founding in January.
The organization is expected to announce today that former Trump national-security adviser Robert O’Brien and several others who worked on national security under the previous administration have joined the organization’s advisory board.
“This distinguished group of leaders brings a dynamic blend of expertise and vision to the table that will be invaluable in statehouses across the country,” Michael Lucci, State Armor’s founder and CEO told National Review in a statement. “Their guidance will be instrumental in helping State Armor protect the American homeland, and their insights are already helping state lawmakers craft and enact critical state security laws.”
“The competition with the CCP is generational, one that will test every aspect of our society,” O’Brien said. “State Armor is playing a vital role in preparing states for the predictable and dire impacts that the CCP’s prolonged strategy of co-option, subversion, and coercion will have on our communities.”
Two of his colleagues from the White House National Security Council are also joining the board: Alex Gray, the NSC’s former chief of staff, and Brian Cavanaugh, a former senior director of the NSC.
Another Trump-era senior official joining the advisory board is Kelley Currie, who served as the State Department’s ambassador at large for global women’s issues and deputy U.N. ambassador.
Other members of the advisory board that will be announced today include two China experts, Jacqueline Deal, president of the Long Term Strategy group, and Adam Klein, of the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.
Each of the board members has either testified alongside Lucci at state-level legislative hearings or otherwise worked with him to advance the bills on which State Armor has focused.
In recent months, state legislatures have passed versions of several of these proposals. Among other things, the bills have focused on limiting state-level procurement of sensitive technologies offered by Chinese firms blacklisted by the U.S. government over their ties to Beijing’s military, tightening rules regarding lobbyists’ work for foreign governments at the state level, and mandating that states plan for the impact that Taiwan-related scenarios might have on the functioning of government operations.
The federal government directs U.S. foreign policy and decision-making. But security challenges posed by China have grown to touch areas traditionally overseen by states and municipalities, such as infrastructure vulnerabilities and government pension funds. Meanwhile, Beijing has recently devoted significant resources to cultivating allies among U.S. state and local officials to circumvent the tougher policies on China that the federal government has implemented in recent years.
In a statement, Deal addressed the subnational dimension of China’s malign efforts: “These operations subvert our democracy by encouraging unregistered lobbying and undermining free speech, assembly, and academic inquiry. They also facilitate CCP espionage, surveillance, and technology and data exfiltration, helping Beijing prepare for war.”