Joe Biden's Cabinet Formation So Far
JAKARTA - President-elect of the United States (US), Joe Biden began nominating cabinet members and assistants at the White House. Biden appears to be fulfilling his promise of building a government that reflects diversity in the US.
Biden has nominated senior members of his economic policy team on Monday, November 30. The team was led by the former head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, as Minister of Finance. He appointed a number of members of the foreign policy and national security teams last week.
Here are some of the most important recent appointments. In addition, there are also top candidates for key positions, according to a Reuters report:
Minister of Finance: Janet YellenThe former chairman of the Fed's Central Bank deepened the central bank's focus on workers and inequality, and has remained active in policy debates at the Brookings Institution studies agency since Republican President Donald Trump replaced him as head of the central bank in 2018.
Office of the Institute of Management and Budget: Neera TandenTanden, president of the progressive Center for American Progress studies institute helped the Obama administration draft the Affordable Care Act, improving healthcare that is one of President Barack Obama's major accomplishments but is trying to dismantle the Republican camp.
Head of the Economic Advisory Board: Cecilia RouseRouse, a labor economist and dean of the Princeton University School of International and Public Relations, whose research focuses on the economics of education and tackling wealth inequality, was a member of Obama's Economic Advisory Council from 2009 to 2011.
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Antony BlinkenA longtime confidant of Biden who served as number two in the State Department and as deputy national security advisor to the Obama administration.
National Security Advisor: Jake SullivanBiden's national security adviser when he served as Obama's vice president. Sullivan also served as Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff when Hillary was secretary of state.
Homeland Security: Alejandro MayorkasThe Cuban-born lawyer will be the first Latino and first immigrant to head the department if confirmed as interior security minister. As head of the Citizenship and Immigration Service under Obama, Mayorkas is leading the implementation of the Suspension of Action against Arriving Children (DACA) program for "Dreamers," or people brought to the United States as undocumented children. DACA has drawn criticism from Republicans and could possibly create Republican opposition against Mayorkas in the Senate.
Director of National Intelligence: Avril HainesObama's deputy national security adviser, previously the first woman to serve as deputy director of the Central Intelligence Service (CIA), Haines is Biden's nominee for director of national intelligence. She will become the first woman to hold the post, created in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Haines held several posts at Columbia University after leaving the Obama administration in 2017.
Ambassador to the United Nations: Linda Thomas-GreenfieldBiden's candidate to become the next US ambassador to the United Nations is Thomas-Greenfield. He will fill the post, which Biden will return to Cabinet level. Thomas-Greenfield is a black woman who served as Obama's senior diplomat in Africa from 2013 to 2017, leading US policy in southern Africa's Sahara during the West African Ebola outbreak.
The President's Special Envoy for Climate: John KerryFormer US senator and secretary of state John Kerry will act as special envoy for climate in the Biden administration, the president-elect's team announced on Monday. Kerry is helping negotiate the Paris climate accord, which Biden wants the United States to rejoin the pact.
Presidential Chief of Staff: Ron KlainAs Biden's long-time advisor with experience in responding to the Ebola pandemic, Klain was selected for the role of chief of staff setting the president's agenda.
Ministry of defenceThere are several candidates who might fill this position. First, Michele Fluornoy. She is the strongest candidate for the position, which will make her the first woman to head the Pentagon.
Flournoy served as a top Defense Department official during the Clinton and Obama administrations, advising Biden's campaign on defense issues. He founded a consulting company with Antony Blinken.
The second candidate, Jeh Johnson. Although best known as the former secretary of interior security during the Obama administration, Johnson also served as general adviser to the Department of Defense in the early years of the Obama presidency and as general adviser to the Air Force during the Clinton administration. Sources said Johnson, who has a career as a lawyer, was also being considered to become US attorney general.
Third, Lloyd Austin. A retired four-star general who oversees American forces in the Middle East as head of US Central Command under the Obama administration, Austin will bring other retired generals back to the Pentagon's top civilian posts.
The final candidate is Tammy Duckworth. Tammy is a US Senator from the State of Illinois, who was considered as a running mate for Biden, who lost both of his legs when his helicopter was attacked when he was an Army officer in Iraq in 2004.Duckworth is Obama's assistant minister for veteran affairs and will be a member of the Cabinet of descent. The first Thai-American.
Attorney GeneralThe first candidate to fill this position is Sally Yates. He is a former deputy attorney general. Yates served as acting attorney general early in Trump's term before being fired for insubordination, when he refused to defend travel restrictions targeting seven Muslim-majority countries.
Another candidate, Doug Jones. Jones is a former federal prosecutor with a strong civil rights defense record. He won the US Senate seat in the 2017 special elections in highly conservative Alabama. Jones was beaten this year by Republican Tommy Tuberville, a former college football coach.
Minister of EnergyElizabeth Sherwood-Randall is the first possible candidate to fill this position. He was a former adviser to Biden when Biden was in the US Senate, serving in the Obama administration as deputy energy minister, during which time he led initiatives to tackle cyber and physical challenges on the power grid. Sherwood-Randall is now a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Furthermore, Arun Majumdar. He is the first director of a US Department of Energy agency to promote and fund research and development of advanced energy technologies. He also served as deputy energy minister from March 2011 to June 2012. Majumdar worked at Google Alphabet Inc as vice president of energy before joining as an academic at Stanford University.
Another candidate is Jay Inslee. He focused on climate change during the failed presidential nomination in 2019, but was re-elected for a third term as governor of Washington State this year. Inslee has been pushed to be considered in the Cabinet by environmental activists for its efforts to pass carbon taxes and clean fuel standards.
Environmental Protection AgencyThe first candidate is Heather McTeer Toney. He is a former regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Obama. This clean air activist is the national field director for Moms Clean Air Force. Toney, a favorite of progressives, has advocated for and trained a variety of officials on leadership and climate in more than 15 countries, including Kenya, France, Portugal, Nigeria and Senegal.
Second, Mary Nichols, who was a former assistant administrator of the EPA during the Clinton administration, is chair of the California Air Resources Council, which regulates air pollution in the state.
Then, there's Collin O'Mara. He is the chief executive of the National Wildlife Federation, serving as energy and environmental advisor to Biden. Prior to working for the federation, O'Mara was the youngest person to head the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, from 2009 to 2014.
CIAMichael Morell is the first possible candidate to take this position. He was deputy director of the CIA and acting director twice under Obama. Morell is now chair of geopolitical risk practice at Beacon Global Strategies, a Washington consulting firm.
Next up, Tom Donilon. He is a veteran diplomat and former national security adviser under Obama helping to direct the White House agenda that increases US focus on relations with Asia. Donilon, Biden's longtime adviser, worked on Biden's first presidential campaign in 1988.
Health and Human ServicesMichelle Lujan Grisham, Governor of New Mexico and co-chair of Biden's transition team are candidates for this position. Lujan Grisham is the strongest candidate to become minister of Health and Human Services, Bloomberg News reported on December 2, citing people with the information.
That position will fill a key role in Biden's efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic. As governor, Lujan Grisham has imposed a lockdown in New Mexico, requiring all "non-essential" businesses to close and residents to stay at home.
The second is Vivek Murthy. He is a Doctor and former head of the US public health agency. He has risen to prominence in recent months as deputy chairman of Biden's advisory council on dealing with the pandemic, which has been promised the president-elect's top priority in taking office.
Then, there is the name Mandy Cohen. He is a doctor who serves as secretary of the North Carolina State Department of Health and Human Services, where he has been a major supporter of Medicaid, the government's health insurance program for low-income US citizens. Cohen served as head of operations at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Obama administration.
Apart from the three names above, another candidate is David Kessler. He is a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has served on Biden's advisory board for the coronavirus pandemic. As head of the FDA, Kessler cuts the time it takes to approve drugs to treat AIDS and seeks to regulate the tobacco industry.