President-elect Joe Biden is filling his Cabinet with a lot of familiar faces and people he has worked with in the past. He spent Monday naming names of who will be filling what positions.
One of the biggest announcements was for a non-Cabinet position, as former Secretary of State John Kerry will be Biden’s special presidential envoy for climate, and with that appointment comes a seat on the National Security Council, marking the first time that the NSC will include an official dedicated to climate change.
Heading up national security will be Avril Haines, whom Biden named as director of national intelligence. She had worked in the Obama administration as deputy CIA director. Jake Sullivan will be serving as White House national security advisor, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield will be nominated as ambassador to the United Nations.
Earlier on Monday, Biden named Antony Blinken as secretary of state and Lejandro Mayorkas to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Biden said in a statement that he wanted to focus on those positions first, as he sees them as a priority: “We have no time to lose when it comes to our national security and foreign policy. I need a team ready on Day One to help me reclaim America’s seat at the head of the table, rally the world to meet the biggest challenges we face, and advance our security, prosperity and values. This is the crux of that team. These individuals are equally as experienced and crisis-tested as they are innovative and imaginative.”
Also on Monday, though not official, Biden is expected to select Janet Yellen, the former chair of the Federal Reserve Board, to be the next Secretary of the Treasury. It would make her the first female head of the treasury after 77 men held the position.
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