Profiles of professionals expected to take key posts in the Biden administration
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden rolled out a national security and foreign policy team. He intent to nominate the first woman to oversee the country’s intelligence community and the first Latino to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Secretary of State – Antony Blinken
Antony Blinken was deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration when he helped to lead diplomacy in the fight against ISIL, the rebalance to Asia, and the global refugee crisis. Blinken also advised Biden on national security when he was vice president. The two worked together when Biden served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has written extensively on foreign policy. He spent some of his childhood in Paris and is fluent in French.
Secretary of Homeland Security – Alejandro Mayorkas
Biden has picked Cuban-American lawyer Alejandro Mayorkas as U.S. homeland security chief. He has a distinguished 30-year career as a law enforcement official. The 61-year-old has served as the deputy secretary of the U.S. Homeland Security Department in the Obama administration and later as the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. He also led the development and implementation of DACA, negotiated cybersecurity and homeland security agreements with foreign government.
National Security Advisor – Jake Sullivan
Sullivan was the national security adviser to Biden when he was vice-president and served as deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state. Sullivan, 43, was also a lead negotiator in the initial talks that paved the way for the Iran nuclear deal and played a key role in the U.S.-brokered negotiations that led to a ceasefire in Gaza in 2012. Since 2014, he has been teaching at Yale law school.
Director of National Intelligence – Avril Haines
Haines, 51, is a New York-born lawyer who has has worked with Biden in various roles for more than a decade. If confirmed, she will become the first woman to serve as Director of National Intelligence. She has previously served as deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency – fist woman to have held the position.
Special Presidential Envoy for Climate – Secretary John Kerry
Kerry is the best known face globally in Biden’s cabinet. The 76-year-old, who signed the Paris Climate Agreement on behalf of the United States in 2015, will take the lead on combating the climate crisis. Described by the New York Times as “America’s Mr. Diplomacy, John Kerry served as America’s 68th Secretary of State. Kerry volunteered for the Navy, serving two tours of duty in Vietnam.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations – Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Linda Thomas-Greenfield – a career diplomat – will be returning to public service after retiring from a 35-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service in 2017. She has served in diplomatic positions for the US for Liberia, Switzerland, Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, Jamaica and The Gambia. Thomas-Greenfield, 68, was formerly assistant secretary of state for African affairs under the Obama and Trump administrations.
