Factbox-The Biden Cabinet: President-elect begins to build a team

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(Reuters) – Democratic President-elect Joe Biden has begun nominating the members of his Cabinet and White House, working to fulfill his promise to build an administration that reflects the nation’s diversity.

Merchandise with the image of President-elect Joe Biden is shown for sale in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, U.S., November 28, 2020. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

Biden will name former Obama administration official Jeff Zients to be his White House coronavirus coordinator and former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to return to his previous role, Politico reported. He already has named leading members of his foreign policy and economic teams.

Here are some recent important picks and top contenders for prominent positions, according to Reuters reporting:

CORONAVIRUS COORDINATOR: JEFF ZIENTS

Zients, an economic adviser touted for his managerial skills, was tapped to save the bungled launch of the Affordable Care Act’s website for former President Barack Obama. Under Biden, he will oversee an unprecedented operation to distribute hundreds of millions of doses of a new vaccine, coordinating efforts across multiple federal agencies.

SURGEON GENERAL: VIVEK MURTHY

A physician and former surgeon general, Murthy gained prominence in recent months as co-chairman of Biden’s advisory board dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, which the president-elect has pledged to make his top priority.

TREASURY SECRETARY: JANET YELLEN

The former Fed chair deepened the central bank’s focus on workers and inequality and has remained active in policy debates at the Brookings Institution think tank since Republican President Donald Trump replaced her as head of the central bank in 2018.

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: NEERA TANDEN

Tanden, president of the progressive Center for American Progress think tank, helped the Obama administration create the Affordable Care Act, the sweeping healthcare overhaul that was one of his central accomplishments and whose demolition became a goal for Republicans.

COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS CHAIR: CECILIA ROUSE

Rouse, a labor economist and dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs whose research has focused on the economics of education and tackling wealth inequality, was a member of Obama’s council of economic advisers from 2009 to 2011.

NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR: BRIAN DEESE

The Obama administration veteran helped lead efforts to bail out the automotive industry during the 2009 financial crisis and helped negotiate the landmark Paris climate accord.

SECRETARY OF STATE: ANTONY BLINKEN

A longtime Biden confidant who served as No. 2 at the State Department and as deputy national security adviser in Obama’s administration.

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: JAKE SULLIVAN

Biden’s national security adviser when he served as vice president to Obama, Sullivan also served as deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

HOMELAND SECURITY: ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS

A Cuba-born lawyer will be the first Latino and first immigrant to head the department if confirmed as secretary of homeland security. As head of Citizenship and Immigration Services under Obama, Mayorkas led implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for Dreamers, people who were brought to the United States as undocumented children. DACA drew Republican criticism and could lead to Republican opposition against Mayorkas in the Senate.

DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: AVRIL HAINES

Deputy national security adviser under Obama, and previously the first woman to serve as CIA deputy director, Haines is Biden’s nominee for director of national intelligence. Haines held several posts at Columbia University after leaving the Obama administration in 2017.

AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD

Biden’s nominee to become the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is Thomas-Greenfield, who will take on a job that Biden plans to restore to a Cabinet level. She is a Black woman who served as Obama’s top diplomat on Africa from 2013 to 2017, leading U.S. policy in Africa south of the Sahara during the West African Ebola outbreak.

SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR CLIMATE: JOHN KERRY

Former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Kerry will act as “climate czar” in the Biden Administration. Kerry helped negotiate the Paris climate deal that Biden wants to re-join.

DEFENSE SECRETARY

Michele Flournoy – She is the consensus front-runner for thejob, which would make her the first woman to lead the Pentagon. Flournoy served as a top Defense Department official in the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations, advised Biden’s campaign on defense issues and co-founded a consulting firm with Blinken.

Jeh Johnson – Although best known as the former secretary of homeland security under the Obama administration, Johnson also served as Department of Defense general counsel in the early years of Obama’s presidency and as general counsel of the Air Force during the Clinton Administration. A career…



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