THE BIDEN CABINET: PRESIDENT-ELECT BEGINS TO BUILD HIS TEAM

Joe Biden has begun nominating the members of his Cabinet and White House, working to fulfil his promise to build an administration that reflects the nation’s diversity. He is expected to announce members of his economic policy team next week, led by former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary.

Here are some recent important picks and top contenders for prominent positions, according to Reuters reporting:

Secretary of State:

Anthony Blinken A longtime Biden confidant who served as No. 2 at the State Department and as deputy national security adviser in President Barack Obama’s administration, Blinken was named Biden’s choice for secretary of state by the presidentelect’s campaign on Monday.

National Security Adviser:

Jake Sullivan

Biden’s national security adviser when he served as vice president to President Barack Obama, Sullivan also served as deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He was named Biden’s national security adviser on Monday.

Homeland Security: Alejandro Mayorkas

A Cuba-born lawyer will be the first Latino and first immigrant to head the department if confirmed as secretary of homeland security, after Biden’s campaign announced his nomination on Monday.

Director of National Intelligence:

Avril Haines

Deputy national security adviser under Obama, and previously the first woman to serve as CIA deputy director, Haines is Biden’s nominee for director of national intelligence.

Ambassador to UN:

Linda Thomas-Greenfield Biden’s nominee to become the next US ambassador to the United Nations is Thomas-Greenfield, who will take on a job Biden plans to restore to a Cabinet level. She is a Black woman who served as Obama’s top diplomat on Africa.

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate:

John Kerry

Former US Senator and

Secretary of State Kerry will act as “climate czar” in the Biden Administration, the president-elect’s campaign announced on Monday. Kerry helped negotiate the Paris climate deal that Biden wants to re-join.

Treasury Secretary:

Janet Yellen The former Fed chair is believed to be the choice for Treasury secretary. She deepened the central bank’s focus on workers and inequality and has remained active in policy debates since Trump replaced her as head of the central bank in 2018.

Defence Secretary: Michele Flournoy She is the consensus frontrunner for the job, which would make her the first woman to lead the Pentagon. Flournoy served as a top Defence Department official in the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations.

Energy Secretary:

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall A former adviser to Biden when he was in the US Senate, she served in the Obama administration as deputy secretary of energy, where she led an initiative to address cyber and physical challenges to the power grid.

Chief Of Staff: Ron Klain A longtime Biden adviser with experience in responding to the Ebola pandemic, Klain was picked for the chief of staff role that sets the president’s agenda.