Biden Will Nominate First Women to Lead Treasury and Intelligence, and First Latino to Run Homeland Security

Mr. Blinken began his career at the State Department during the Clinton administration.

Mr. Sullivan will take the White House’s top national security job and, at 44 when he takes office, will be the youngest person to hold that position after McGeorge Bundy, who took over the job at age 41 under President John F. Kennedy.

Mr. Sullivan followed Mr. Blinken as Mr. Biden’s top national security aide and was also a senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Along the way, Mr. Sullivan found admirers among conservative Republicans in Congress while playing a key role in the negotiations leading to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

A Minnesota native, Mr. Sullivan in recent months has helped lead a project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace re-conceiving U.S. foreign policy around the needs of the American middle class.

Ms. Yellen’s path to the top job at Treasury may have been paved by the man who rejected her for a second stint as Fed chair: Mr. Trump.

Ms. Yellen wanted to be reappointed when her term at the head of the central bank ended in 2018, but Mr. Trump, eager to install his own pick, decided against renominating her. Instead, he chose Jerome H. Powell, the Fed’s current chair, breaking with precedent. The previous three Fed chairs had been reappointed by presidents of the opposite political party.

But it may have cleared the way for Ms. Yellen — who became an economist at a time when few women entered or rose in the male-dominated field — to break yet another public policy glass ceiling.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/us/politics/biden-nominees.html