Biden announces national security team filled with Obama administration veterans

If confirmed, Mayorkas would be the first Latino Secretary of Homeland Security. Under the Trump administration, the department moved away from its broader homeland security mission to focus heavily on immigration law enforcement. Immigration activists are sure to pressure the Biden administration to roll back dozens of DHS rules and regulations that restricted immigration.

Confirmation of Haines would also historic; she would become the most senior woman in the US intelligence community and the first female director of national intelligence. Haines is another veteran of the Obama administration, having served as a former Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Director of the CIA.

Kerry, a longtime Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, served from 2013 to 2017 as Obama’s second secretary of state after Hillary Clinton left Foggy Bottom.

Kerry was one of Biden’s first backers in the 2020 Democratic primaries and served with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as one of two co-chairs of a Unity Task Force. on climate change which brought together members of the Democratic Progressive Party and establishment wings.

One notable omission from the list of names released by Biden’s transition team on Monday was the president-elect’s choice for Secretary of Defense. Michèle Flournoy, former Defense Under-Secretary for Politics, is widely regarded as the first to lead the Pentagon in the new administration.

The staff changes come after Ron Klain, Biden’s new White House chief of staff, said on Sunday that the president-elect would appoint his first cabinet officials on Tuesday.

Later Sunday, multiple media reported that Biden had brought in foreign policy adviser Antony Blinken as secretary of state, home policy adviser Jake Sullivan as national security adviser and veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield as US Ambassador to the United Nations.

Those names were also confirmed in the announcement Monday by Biden’s transition team.

Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.