WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday filled his State Department team with a group of former career diplomats and veterans of the Obama administration, signaling his desire to return to a more traditional foreign policy after four years of uncertainty. and unpredictability under President Donald Trump.
Biden will nominate Wendy Sherman as Undersecretary of State and Victoria Nuland as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs – the second and third highest positions, respectively. They were among the officials chosen to serve on the next secretary of state, Antony Blinken.
The team “embodies my core belief that America is stronger when working with our allies,” said Biden in a statement. He said he was confident that “they will use their experience and diplomatic skills to restore America’s moral and global leadership. America is back. “
Among the others are:
– former Biden Senate aide, Brian McKeon, to serve as assistant secretary of state for the administration.
– former diplomats Bonnie Jenkins and Uzra Zeya, to be undersecretaries of state for arms control and undersecretaries of state for democracy and human rights, respectively.
—Derek Chollet, a well-known Democratic foreign policy collaborator, to be an adviser to the State Department.
– Former UN officer Salman Ahmed, as director of policy planning.
—Suzy George, who was a senior advisor to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, will be Blinken’s chief of staff.
—Ned Price, a former Obama National Security Council official and CIA career officer who resigned in protest in the early days of the Trump administration, will serve as the public face of the department, assuming the role of spokesman.
—Jalina Porter, communications director for Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., Who is leaving Congress to work at the White House, will be Price’s deputy.
Price and Porter intend to return to the practice of holding daily State Department press briefings, officials said. These instructions were eliminated during the Trump administration.
Jeffrey Prescott, a former national security adviser when Biden was vice president, is Biden’s choice to be the deputy ambassador to the United Nations. He would serve under the command of the UN envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Five of the 11 are black or LGBTQ. Although most are not known, all are advocates of multilateralism and many are known in Washington and foreign policy circles. His selections are a reflection of Biden’s intention to move away from the transactional and often one-sided “America First” approach to Trump’s international relations.
Sherman led the Obama administration’s negotiations that led to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, from which Trump withdrew, and became involved in ballistic missile talks with North Korea during President Bill Clinton’s second term. Nuland was Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs during the crisis in Ukraine.
Sherman, McKeon, Nuland, Jenkins and Zeya will require confirmation from the Senate for their positions, while the others will not.