In the past few weeks, at least two different people with backgrounds in television have joined the Trump administration: one former Fox & Friends host was named undersecretary of state and one former Disney Channel star has joined the White House press team. These moves are somewhat troubling because White House jobs are challenging and require a certain kind of experience that you simply don’t tend to get in television.
It makes a little bit more sense to go the other way: after years in demanding, dynamic jobs in government, a former White House employee might want to move to an executive position at a network where they can shape programming and influence pop culture. After all, Barack Obama himself is said to be in talks with Netflix, Apple, and Amazon for a possible content deal.
That’s just what Susan Rice, former U.S. National Security Advisor and Ambassador to the United Nations, has chosen to do. She joined Netflix’s board of directors, the company announced today.
“We are delighted to welcome Ambassador Rice to the Netflix board,” said Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings. “For decades, she has tackled difficult, complex global issues with intelligence, integrity and insight and we look forward to benefiting from her experience and wisdom.”
“I am thrilled to be joining the board of directors of Netflix, a cutting-edge company whose leadership, high-quality productions, and unique culture I deeply admire,” Rice said.
Rice was an Obama-era U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2009-13. From 2013-17, she chaired the Cabinet-level National Security Principals committee which saw her give the daily national security briefing to President Obama. She was also “responsible for the formulation, coordination and implementation of all aspects of the administration’s foreign and national security policy, intelligence and military efforts,” per Deadline.
