Biden UN Representative Got an Ethics Pass for Conflicts

Lisa Carty’s State Department ethics waiver comes amid her history as an “asset” of the UN.

There probably are enough internationalist sophisticates inside the Beltway that the Biden administration would not have to appoint people with multiple conflicts to be representatives to the United Nations. But President Biden’s administration rarely thought twice about tapping well-connected Beltway insiders for jobs and papering over conflicts of interest with ethics waivers.

One such individual is Lisa Carty, the wife of Biden-era CIA director William Burns. She left her position as the UN’s director for humanitarian financing and resource mobilization to helm the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for the U.S. delegation. In this position, Carty was responsible for “funding for global humanitarian crises, maintaining relationships with donor governments and the World Bank, supporting UN emergency funds, and developing innovative financing approaches.” She had previously been confirmed as the U.S. representative to the UN Economic and Security Council and later served as the alternate U.S. representative of the UN General Assembly.

In order to fulfill her charged duties, the Biden administration had to ensure her potential conflicts of interest were swept well under the rug. As such, Carty was given a waiver by the State Department’s ethics office. She’d been a UN “asset,” but it would be “impossible to carry out your responsibilities without engaging in particular matters.” So, the State Department’s ethics office made the conflict vanish with a waiver.

Unfortunately, a waiver can’t erase Carty’s resume, which demonstrates yet another instance of the influence of powerful special interests in the Biden administration. She helmed the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program, and served as a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.  Then there was her stint at the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees (which is barred from receiving federal funds until March 2025). In fact, Carty has made multiple pro-UNRWA statements after the Palestinian Islamic terror group Hamas’ atrocious massacre of 1,200 innocent Israelis and concertgoers.

“We recognize UNWRA is vital – particularly in the humanitarian response in Gaza… This is consistent with our longstanding commitment to the Palestinian people. We have contributed more funding to UNRWA – by far – than any other country, totaling more than $7 billion since 1950,” Carty said in November 2024. “The United States reaffirms that UNRWA is a critical entity but one that should be temporary. We reiterate our view that UNRWA’s mandate and programs should remain until a two-state solution is achieved and Palestinians realize a future with dignity and self-determination.”

Recent records from PPT FOIA requests revealed the Biden administration, according to a media report, “was well aware of the issues plaguing the embattled [UNRWA] but opted to barrel forward with funds anyway.”

“The Biden administration’s habit of lifting up Beltway insiders without regard to conflicts of interest, made dubious waivers routine,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain said. “Not only does this demonstrate once again their propensity to place individuals into positions in which they had massive conflicts, then merely waive those conflicts away. It also sheds light into why they insisted on plowing ahead with funding to UNRWA even as they knew the organization had not lived up to its obligations. Yet another incident to explain why trust in government plummeted during the last few years.”

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