Yesterday, I tweeted some big news from the Carnegie Conference:
DepSecState Steinberg announced that Biden will be responsible for overseeing START Follow-on and CTBT ratification.
I had heard rumors to that effect — hey, he is the former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, it would be weird if there weren’t rumors — but I was surprised that Steinberg announced it as a done deal.
The announcement drew headlines in the Washington Post (Biden to Shepherd Test Ban Treaty Vote and Boston Globe (Biden to oversee administration’s nuclear nonproliferation effort).
Now, I am wondering: Was it a done deal? I observe that none of the stories include background quotes by anonymous officials explaining that the decision process or talking about what a great guy Joe Biden is or how perfect he is for the job — both of which are undoubtedly true. “Biden aides” told Walter Pincus “they could not confirm when it will be officially announced.”
This doesn’t really seem like a roll-out to me. Thoughts?