Joe Biden’s inner circle: Meet the tight-knit new president’s team | Joe Biden

aT the essence of management Joe Biden It is a trusted circle of officials bound together by many years of working together in a close-knit team in the Obama administration, through a common doctrine, or, in some cases, a relationship with Biden’s late son, Bo.

This is the exact opposite approach taken by Donald Trump, who brought together a sharp-elbow “team of competitors” – strong men from all walks of life, whom he had never met but believed to be a part of them. Biden values ​​intimacy and kind camaraderie, and he warned the new recruits Wednesday that if they do not treat each other with respect, “I will fire you immediately.”

Tony Blinking

Candidate’s Minister of Foreign Affairs She worked alongside Biden for nearly two decades. He was his foreign policy advisor in the Senate and as a national security advisor to the Vice President in the Obama administration. Those who know them speak of a confusion between them on foreign policy and more. Just as Biden is anti-Trump, Blinken is anti-Pompeo: soft-spoken, calm, and collective. In his affirmation session, he called for American confidence and humility on the world stage, by contrast “Swagger,” Pompeo. Unlike his predecessor, Blinken is an instinctive, multi-language person, who grew up in France and is bilingual.

Jake Sullivan

Sullivan, 43, the youngest National Security Adviser In 60 years it also became a fairly well-known quantity for the president. A former Rhodes scholar, who received a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Oxford, succeeded Blinken as Biden’s national security advisor in the Obama administration and remained by his side in that position for 18 months.

He is best known for starting secret talks with Iranian officials that ultimately led to the 2015 nuclear deal, but his broader philosophy, which he developed at Yale University after leaving Obama’s White House, aligns closely with Biden: the strength of the United States. The outside is built on social cohesion and prosperity in the heart of America.

Lloyd Austin

Biden’s candidate defense minister He has been described as the “silent general” for his record of avoiding the press, but is said to have strong political views behind closed Pentagon doors – and those views closely align with Biden’s. He has a strong preference for diplomacy over military might, especially in the Middle East. He strongly opposed US support for the Saudi intervention in Yemen, as the US Central Command cooperated with the Houthis to fight al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Equally important, Austin knew Beau Biden in Iraq 10 years ago, when the general was commander of US forces there and the younger Biden was a major on the Attorney General’s Association. The two attended Catholic services together, and Catholicism is another important area of ​​private ground shared with the new president.

April Haines

New Haines Director of National Intelligence Who was Biden’s first choice is confirmed by the Senate, and he also has a long history with Biden. She worked with him in the Senate days, seeing him almost daily while she was the deputy director of the CIA and deputy national security advisor in the Obama administration. This senior NSC staff is a major recruitment group for senior positions in Biden administration. As with Blinken, most of the people who have worked with Haines emphasize her kindness and hard work, but she faces suspicions from the left about her past involvement in the Obama administration, codifying rules and procedures for targeting suspected terrorists with drone strikes, and her role in revising CIA documents on torture And override the inspector general’s recommendation to punish the officers who participated.

Kamala Harris

Biden’s selection of Harris as a running mate included overcoming some of the wounds she sustained during the primaries, when she tried to get out of the Democratic crowd with A sharp attack on the favorite in the debate, Ethnic integration and buses. But the vice president The roots with the Biden family run deep. When she was a California attorney general, Beau Biden was doing the same job in Delaware, joining forces during the housing crisis, financial crisis, and the push for a true banking regulation. They remained close friends until his death in 2015, at the age of 46. “There were periods, when I was exposed to heat, when Bo and I spoke every day, sometimes multiple times a day,” she said in her diary.

Ron Klein

Klein had three traits that made him the clear choice as the chief of staff in the new White House. He knows the president well, having served as Biden’s chief of staff in the early years of the Obama administration, and served on three campaigns for Biden. He worked very closely, and apparently harmoniously, with Jake Sullivan. He has a wealth of experience dealing with pandemics, having coordinated Obama’s response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and 2015 – credentials closely related to the presidency that will likely be dominated by the coronavirus in its first year.

John Kerry

Kerry and Biden worked together in the Senate for decades in a natural partnership – two senators from the Northeast, practicing Catholicism with Irish ancestry and having a deep interest in foreign policy. Kerry was an early supporter of Biden’s third presidential bid, and he joined him on the campaign trail. When Keri made his own Climate EnvoyBiden said the former Secretary of State was “one of my best friends,” so that the world would know he was going to speak on the president’s behalf. Biden added that there is: “I do not trust anyone more.”

Jill Biden

This is not entirely true. The President’s wife, Jill Biden, for 43 years, is a close friend and fierce protector, like Barack and Michelle Obama, and mirrors the cold and remote White House partnership between Donald and Melania Trump. On the campaign trail, She physically intervened to protect her husband from the protesters, And journalists who got too close during the pandemic. She is stepmother to son Hunter, and they have a daughter together, Ashley, born in 1981. Biden’s generation will break the mold for first ladies, however, by continuing her career while residing at the White House and teaching writing at Northern Virginia Community College part-time.