US president-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday formally introduced his national security team, building out a team of alumni from the administration of former US president Barack Obama.
However, Biden said that his administration should not be considered a “third Obama term,” because “we face a totally different world than we faced in the Obama-Biden administration.”
Biden said in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt that he was less likely to choose a member of the US Congress for his Cabinet, because of the slim margins in the US Senate and US House of Representatives.
Photo: AFP
Choosing a person in either chamber, “particularly a person of consequence,” would be “a really difficult decision that would have to be made,” he said.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican political committee, has begun airing a campaign advertisement warning that if a Democratic Senate candidate wins a runoff election in Georgia in January, “liberals” would “control everything” in Washington.
The advert criticizes Democrat Jon Ossoff, who is challenging US Senator David Perdue.
It says that Ossoff supports the agenda of “liberal megadonors” of “job-killing tax hikes, economy-killing regulations.”
“The radical left bought Ossoff. Because if he wins, they control everything, and we lose,” it says.
There is also a second runoff in Georgia pitting US Senator Kelly Loeffler against Democrat Raphael Warnock.
Democrats must win both of the Georgia races to capture the Senate majority. That would create a 50-50 chamber, which Democrats would control because US vice president-elect Kamala Harris would cast the tiebreaking vote.
Biden’s pick for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, worked for Biden in the Senate for years, and held the posts of deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser.
His choice for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was the deputy to that post under Obama.
His nominee for treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, was chair of the US Federal Reserve and chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
His incoming White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, was chief of staff to two vice presidents — Al Gore and Biden himself — and was the Obama administration’s Ebola czar.
John Kerry, Biden’s choice to fill the newly created post of presidential climate envoy, was a longtime US senator and his party’s 2004 presidential nominee before serving as secretary of state.
“The team is bringing competency and experience, which are two separate things, but deeply interwoven,” said retired US Navy admiral James Stavridis, who has worked with much of Biden’s new team. “There are deputies stepping up into full roles, seasoned hands returning to the job. They tend to be calm and centered, and they won’t all fight over the ball.”
Biden has showcased a faith in bureaucracy that was born out of his nearly five decades in Washington.
“Collectively, this team has secured some of the most defining national security and diplomatic achievements in recent memory — made possible through decades of experience working with our partners,” Biden said.
Republicans were unimpressed with Biden’s hires.
“Biden’s cabinet picks went to Ivy League schools, have strong resumes, attend all the right conferences & will be polite & orderly caretakers of America’s decline,” US Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter.
US Senator Tom Cotton said that Biden is surrounding himself with people who will go soft on China.
Other picks were: Alejandro Mayorkas to be homeland security secretary; diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be US ambassador to the UN; Obama White House alumnus Jake Sullivan as national security adviser; and Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA, was picked to serve as director of national intelligence.
In the weeks ahead, Biden might also name Michele Flournoy as the first female to lead the US department of defense.
Pete Buttigieg, a former Indiana mayor, has also been mentioned as a contender for a Cabinet agency.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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