Seal of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Human rights literally disappeared from former President Trump’s National Security Council (NSC) when he dropped the term from the position once known as the special assistant to the President for multilateral affairs and human rights.
President Biden has appointed a new coordinator for democracy and human rights in the NSC. This firmly reestablishes the issue of human rights as a national security concern and communicates that the administration will focus on human rights as a foreign policy issue. Given this renewed focus, the Intelligence Community (IC) can and should take actions to support the NSC and administration on human rights intelligence.