Joe Biden has appointed a national security team full of experienced Washington insiders, signalling a sharp move back to a more traditional US foreign and security policy.
The Biden team is the polar opposite of that appointed by Donald Trump four years ago when he chose outsiders such Rex Tillerson, General Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon and railed against Washington’s “Deep State”.
Mr Biden on Tuesday (AEDT) nominated his close advisers Antony Blinken as his Secretary of State and Jake Sullivan as his national security adviser.
Alejandro Mayorkas, a former deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, will become the Homeland Security Secretary, while Avril Haines, a former CIA deputy director, becomes director of national intelligence.
Career diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield, an African American, will be the new US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Mr Biden is also expected to nominate former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, as Treasury Secretary.
Ms Yellen, 74, a veteran labour economist, will be charged with overseeing the US economic recovery and will be the first woman to hold the job.
The best known appointee is former Secretary of State John Kerry who will become Mr Biden’s climate change envoy.
Today, I’m announcing the first members of my national security and foreign policy team. They will rally the world to take on our challenges like no other—challenges that no one nation can face alone.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 23, 2020
It’s time to restore American leadership. I trust this group to do just that. pic.twitter.com/uKE5JG45Ts
They “are experienced, crisis-tested leaders who are ready to hit the ground running on day one,” the Biden transition team said. “These officials will start working immediately to rebuild our institutions, renew and reimagine American leadership to keep Americans safe at home and abroad, and address the defining challenges of our time — from infectious disease, to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats, and climate change.”
The Biden team is expected to pursue a centrist foreign and security policy, placing renewed emphasis on traditional alliance partners such as Australia.
They are also expected to reconnect the US to multilateral institutions and rebuff the “American First’ approach of the Trump administration.
The new team reflects the diversity which Mr Biden promised for his Cabinet and White House roles, with Mr Mayorkas becoming the first Hispanic Homeland Security secretary and Ms Haines the first female director of national intelligence.
Ms Thomas-Greenfield, a former director general of the foreign service, will become one of the most senior African American members of the Biden team.
“My mother taught me to lead with the power of kindness and compassion to make the world a better place,” she said in a tweet. “I’ve carried that lesson with me throughout my career in Foreign Service — and, if confirmed, will do the same as Ambassador to the United Nations.”
The 58-year-old Mr Blinken is considered a foreign policy centrist, having previously served in the Clinton Administration and as deputy national security adviser during the Obama Administration.
Mr Blinken has previously criticised Mr Trump’s attacks on global institutions and on America’s traditional allies
“Democracy is in retreat around the world, and unfortunately it’s also in retreat at home because of the president taking a two-by-four to its institutions, its values and its people every day,” Mr Blinken said in September. “Our friends know that Joe Biden knows who they are. So do our adversaries. That difference would be felt on day one.”
Mr Sullivan, who is just 43, served as national security adviser to the then Vice President Biden and has been a close confidant of the 78-year-old president-elect during the recent election campaign.
A former Rhodes Scholar, Mr Sullivan credited Mr Biden with teaching him ‘what it takes to safeguard our national security at the highest levels of our government.”
“Now, he has asked me to serve as his national security adviser,” he said. “In service, I will do everything in my power to keep our country safe.”
Mr Kerry, Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017 under Barack Obama, returns as climate adviser a role which will see him join the White House national security council but not Cabinet.
“America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is,” Mr Kerry said. “I’m proud to partner with the president-elect, our allies, and the young leaders of the climate movement to take on this crisis as the president’s climate envoy.”
Mr Biden has promised that the US will rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and will consider rejoining the Iran nuclear deal after being sworn in on January 20.
(Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky news Australia)
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