President-elect Joe Biden’s foreign policy team is taking shape, becoming what is largely a return to normal after the previous 4 years.
Biden has selected longtime adviser Antony Blinken, the former deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser under Obama who also served as Biden’s national security adviser, to serve as secretary of state, according to The Washington Post.
Blinken, who got his start in the Clinton administration, served as Biden’s staff director when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also advised his presidential campaigns.
“We would not have gotten out of Iraq in a way that left the government with a fighting chance to make it without Tony Blinken’s hard work,” Biden said in 2013. “He was the go-to guy. He still is the go-to guy.”
Blinken is considered a centrist and spent his post-Obama years working as a strategic adviser to businesses.
“Tony Blinken is a superstar and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said in 2013.
Longtime diplomat tapped as UN envoy:
Biden is expected to announce Linda Thomas-Greenfield as his pick to be the UN Ambassador.
Greenfield was the top diplomat to Africa under Obama after serving 35 years in the Foreign Service.
Greenfield retired in 2017 after Trump came into office.
She went on to work at Albright Stonebridge, an advisory firm founded by her mentor, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
“Greenfield is also the leader of Biden’s agency review team for the State Department, a group of trusted advisers who are preparing to realign the department for a Biden administration,” according to the Post. “She has been leading efforts on promoting diversity at the department and other long-sought changes.”
Hillary aide tapped as national security adviser:
Biden is also expected to pick Jake Sullivan as national security adviser.
Sullivan worked for Hillary Clinton at the state department and later as the director of policy planning for the Obama White House before serving as Biden’s national security adviser.
Sullivan was also Clinton’s foreign policy adviser during her 2016 campaign and a domestic policy adviser on Biden’s campaign.
