Joe Biden’s foreign policy picks signal shift from Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ approach
- Antony Blinken tapped as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security adviser and Linda Thomas-Greenfield as the US ambassador to the UN
- Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security and former senator John Kerry to be a special presidential envoy for the climate
US President-elect Joe Biden is moving to fill out his national security team with a raft of appointments to top positions that signal his intent to repudiate the Trump administration’s “America First” doctrine.
The six picks announced on Monday, almost all of them alumni of the Obama administration, represent a fundamental shift away from President Donald Trump’s policies and personnel selections.
They also mark a return to a more traditional approach to America’s relations with the rest of the world and reflect Biden’s campaign promises to have his Cabinet reflect the diversity of the American population.
In choosing foreign policy veterans, Biden is seeking to upend Trump’s war on the so-called “deep state” that saw an exodus of career officials from government.
He will nominate his long-time adviser Antony Blinken to be secretary of state, lawyer Alejandro Mayorkas to be homeland security secretary, Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be ambassador to the United Nations, Jake Sullivan to be his national security adviser, Avril Haines to be Sullivan’s deputy, and former secretary of state John Kerry to be his climate change envoy.