US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday, November 23, announced key figures for his cabinet, choosing longtime foreign policy advisor Antony Blinken to be his secretary of state and former US chief diplomat John Kerry as his special climate envoy.
"We have no time to lose when it comes to our national security and foreign policy," Biden said in a statement.
Biden nominated the first Latino ever, Cuba-born lawyer Alejandro Mayorkas, to lead the Department of Homeland Security and manage immigration.
He chose Avril Haines, the former deputy CIA director, as his director of national intelligence. With this, Haines is the first women to hold that position. During the Obama administration, Haines served as Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor from 2015-2017.
Biden also announced that long-time diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield will be nominated as his ambassador to the United Nations.
Among other key appointments, Jake Sullivan, who was a security aide to Biden when he was vice president, has been appointed White House national security advisor.
John Kerry, who was secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 and signed the Paris climate accord in 2015 is all set to be a member of the national security council.
Alejandro Mayorkas, ex-federal prosecutor, was director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services and then DHS deputy secretary under president Barack Obama.
Jake Sullivan was director of the Policy Planning Staff at the State department and deputy chief of staff to secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and was a lead negotiator in the talks for the Iran nuclear deal.
"These individuals are equally as experienced and crisis-tested as they are innovative and imaginative," Biden said.