US President-elect, Joe Biden has unveiled officials for six important posts, as he prepares to take office after President Trump agreed transition can begin some three weeks after the November 3rd presidential elections.
Mr Biden introduced several of his national security nominees pending approval from the senate, marking a reversal of President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy by saying his picks “embody my core beliefs that America is strongest when it works with its allies.”
The team included nominees for Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security, touting not only their experience, but also their diversity. His roster includes multiple women and people of colour, “some of whom are breaking historical barriers in their posts.”
President-elect Biden said while “this team has unmatched experience and accomplishments, they also reflect the idea that we cannot meet these challenges with old thinking and unchanged habits.
“For example, we’re going to have the first woman lead the intelligence community, the first Latino and immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security and a groundbreaking diplomat at the United Nations.
“It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it.”
Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris added, “When Joe asked me to be his running mate, he told me about his commitment to making sure we selected a cabinet that looks like America that reflects the best of our nation, and that’s what we have done.”
Mr Biden nominated long-time adviser, Antony Blinken to be Secretary of State; Lawyer Alejandro Mayorkas, who is Latino, to be Homeland Security Secretary; Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a Black woman, to be US ambassador to the United Nations; and Jake Sullivan as National Security Adviser.
Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA, has been nominated as Director of National Intelligence, the first woman to hold that post. And former Secretary of State, John Kerry is being named to a new cabinet-level post as Biden’s climate change envoy.
The most well-known is Kerry, who made climate change one of his priorities while serving as Barack Obama’s secretary of state, during which he also negotiated the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord. President Trump withdrew from both agreements, which he said represented a failure of American diplomacy in a direct critique of Kerry, whom he called the worst secretary of state in US history.
Blinken, 58, also served as deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration.
“America, at its best, still has a greater ability than any other country on Earth to bring others together to meet the challenges of our time,” Blinken said after his nomination.
“And that’s where the men and women of the State Department, Foreign Service officers, civil service, that’s where they come in. I witnessed their passion, their energy, their courage up close. I see what they do to keep us safe, to make us more prosperous.”
In announcing his choices, Biden moved forward with plans to fill out his administration even as President Trump refuses to concede defeat in the November 3rd elections, and has vowed to “keep up the fight.”
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