Activision Blizzard Hires Former Trump Administration Member Once Decried As ‘Bully’

Image: Activision Blizzard / Kotaku / Pool (Getty Images)

Today, Activision Blizzard ad Promotion of Blizzard Commercial Director and COO Armin Zerza to Corporate Finance Director. What he hasn’t announced to the public is that he’s also hired a new executive director: former Donald Trump administration member Brian Bulatao.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick informed employees of the hiring in an email Kotaku viewed. In it, Kotick highlighted Bulatao’s past as a military veteran and also referred to his most recent job, Under Secretary of State for Management at the US Department of State, where he worked directly under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his longtime friend, business partner and former classmate of West Point and one of the Trump most ardent allies. Prior to being appointed by Trump in 2018 and confirmed by the Senate in 2019, Bulatao was the CIA’s director of operations. Kotick noted that Bulatao was responsible for “leading the State Department’s efforts on talent, diversity and inclusion,” an effort Trump put on hold by executive order Last September.

“Brian is a rare talent and the perfect fit for Activision Blizzard; his unparalleled combination of business, military and government experience makes him ideal for accelerating our organizational transformation and providing great opportunities for future growth, ”Kotick wrote in the email to employees.

At Activision Blizzard, Bulatao will oversee the Call of Duty Endowment, which is a veteran-focused nonprofit founded by Kotick, as well as “key administrative functions, including corporate social responsibility activities of Activision Blizzard. , people, IT, and physical security. He will have “managerial responsibility” in a few other areas of the business.

Bulatao was the subject of a public review last year as part of the House Democrats’ inquiry on Trump’s dismissal of the State Department’s independent watchdog, Inspector General Steve Linick. Linick, who had investigated a possible misuse of government resources by Pompeo before he was visibly fired, testified in June 2020 that Bulatao “attempted to intimidate” him on several occasions, including during an investigation into the 2019 Trump administration’s $ 8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Linick also said that despite his work under Pompeo, Bulatao seemed “unaware of the role of Inspectors General”. Linick claimed he was fired for “no good reason”, which Bulatao refuted in his own testimony in September 2020, claiming instead that Trump has “lost confidence” in him for various reasons.

Last year, citing sources who previously worked within the State Department, Business Insider published a report calling Bulatao “Mike Pompeo’s attack dog” and accusing him of overseeing extravagant spending on things unrelated to foreign policy like campaign events and donor dinners as well as “an unprecedented ouster of ambassadors from career ”and other personnel issues. The report also pointed out that the new Acting Inspector General, Stephen Akard, had not left his former post as Director of Foreign Missions and would therefore report directly to Bulatao despite the conflict of interest that would benefit Pompeo, close friend and boss of Bulatao. It drew criticism from Democratic politicians at the time. Akard resigned months later.

Activision Blizzard’s hiring of Bulatao follows an announcement in early March that the company had brought in Frances F. Townsend, former head of counterterrorism during the time of George W. Bush and apologist for torture, as the new chief of compliance. Bulatao, whom Kotick praised in his email for his new commitment to “epic entertainment,” will at least find himself in familiar company.

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