Biden appoints interim cabinet



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White House officials, announcing the interim leadership, said “nearly all” were career civil servants, and many have spent years in the agencies they will temporarily lead.

TSA administrator David Pekoske, for example, will be the acting Homeland Security secretary while Alejandro Mayorkas awaits confirmation. Putting Pekoske in charge means Biden will have a Senate confirmed leader in DHS who has extensive knowledge of the department. And David Cohen, who will be acting director of the CIA, was deputy director of the agency under Obama and will return to that role under Biden.

The White House has not formally announced the interim leadership of a number of Cabinet agencies, including the ministries of Agriculture, Home Affairs, Commerce, Transport, Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban development.

At the Ministry of Education, Phil Rosenfelt, career manager, will become interim secretary, a White House official confirmed. And at the Environmental Protection Agency, Charlotte Bertrand, a career staff member, will become an interim administrator, according to an internal agency email seen by POLITICO.

And Kevin Shea will take on the role of Acting Agriculture Department chief while Tom Vilsack awaits Senate confirmation. Shea most recently served as the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a position he has held since 2013.

Here are the interim agency officials announced on Wednesday:

– Central Intelligence Agency, David Cohen
– Department of Defense, David Norquist
– Department of Energy, David Huizenga
– Department of Health and Human Services, Norris Cochran
– Department of Homeland Security, David Pekoske
– Department of Justice, Monty Wilkinson
– Department of Labor, Al Stewart
– State Department, Dan Smith
– Department of the Treasury, Andy Baukol
– Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Lora Shiao
– Office of Management and Budget, Rob Fairweather
– Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Maria Pagan
– Small Business Administration, Tami Perriello
– General Service Administration, Katy Kale
– National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Steve Jurczyk
– National Foundation for the Arts, Ann Eilers
– National Foundation for the Humanities, Adam Wolfson
– Office of National Drug Control Policy, Regina LaBelle
– Office of Personnel Management, Kathy McGettigan
– Social Security Administration, Andrew Saul
– US Agency for International Development, Gloria Steele
– American International Development Finance Corporation, Dev Jagadesan
– American Mission to the United Nations, Rich Mills

Michael Stratford, Stephanie Beasley, Liz Crampton and Alex Guillén contributed to this report.

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