President Biden is tapping former ambassador Lee Wolosky, who led President Obama’s efforts to shut down Guantanamo Bay, to coordinate the administration’s legal efforts to resettle Afghan evacuees, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Why it matters: By bringing in a seasoned attorney with experience in the public and private sector, Biden is trying to ensure that his administration’s unprecedented resettlement program stands on solid legal footing.
- Wolosky, who will serve as a special counsel to the president, will take a leave from his firm, Jenner & Block LLP, to work with the National Security Council (NSC) and other administration officials on resettlement, as well as other issues related to the U.S. drawdown from Afghanistan.
- Under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Wolosky served as Director of Transnational Threats on the National Security Council at the White House.
- Obama put him in charge of efforts to shut down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in 2015 and made him an ambassador in 2016.
The big picture: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said that at least 50,000 Afghans are expected to be admitted into the United States after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.
- Last week, Biden appointed Jack Markell, a former governor of Delaware, to temporarily lead the Afghan resettlement effort in the United States.
- The Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday urged Congress to provide an additional $6.4 billion for Afghan allies in part "to support processing sites overseas and in the United States," according to a blog post from OMB Acting Director Shalanda Young.
Go Deeper: Wolosky will be designated a special government employee with the expectation that he will serve for under 130 days.
