World News | Biden Says His National Security Team Will Keep America Safe and Secure

Washington, Nov 25 (PTI) United States President-elect Joe Biden said his national security team, which he introduced to the nation, would keep the country safe and secure reflecting that "America is back and ready to lead the world, not retreat from it".

From his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden on Tuesday announced his intent to nominate long-time diplomat Antony Blinken as his Secretary of State; Alejandro Mayorkas, as Secretary of Homeland Security; Linda Thomas-Greenfield as US Ambassador to the United Nations, and Avril Haines, as Director of National Intelligence, who would be the first woman to be named for this top intelligence position.

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Biden also announced that former Secretary of State John Kerry would be Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, the first such official to sit on the national security council. Jake Sullivan, 43, has been appointed National Security Advisor and will be one of the youngest person to serve in that role in decades, he said.

“It is a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure and it's a team that reflects the fact that America is back ready to lead the world not retreat from it. Once again sit at the head of the table ready to confront our adversaries and not reject their allies, ready to stand up for our values,” Biden said in his address that was telecast live across major cable networks.

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In calls with world leaders, Biden said he had been struck by how they are looking forward to the US reasserting its historic role as a global leader both in the Pacific as well as the Atlantic all across the world.

“The team meets this moment. They embodied my core beliefs that America is strongest when it works with its allies,” he asserted.

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 American partners, he said.

“That is how we truly keep America safe without engaging in needless military conflicts and our adversaries in check and terrorist at the and that is how we counter terrorism and extremism, control this pandemic and future ones, deal with the climate crisis, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats, and emerging technologies that spread authoritarianism and so much more,” Biden said.

And while this team has unmatched experience and accomplishments, they also reflect the idea that the US cannot meet these challenges with old thinking and unchanged habits, he observed.

“For example, we are going to have the first woman lead in the intelligence community, the first Latino and immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security and a groundbreaking diplomat at the United Nations,” he said.

“We are going to have a principal on the National Security Council, whose full-time job is to fight climate change for the first time ever that will occur. And my national security team will be coordinated by one of the youngest national security advisors in decades,” Biden said.

“Experience and leadership, fresh thinking and perspective and an unrelenting belief in the promise of America. I have long said that America leads not only by the example of our power but by the power of our example and I am proud to put forward this incredible team that will lead by example,” said the president-elect.

Together, Biden said, these public servants will restore America its global and moral leadership. “And we'll ensure that our service members, diplomats, and intelligence professionals can do their job free of politics. I'll not only repair, they also reimagine American foreign policy and national security for the next generation. And they will tell me what I need to know, not what I want to know, what I need to know,” he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)