Biden Names John Kerry as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate the first Latino to lead the Department of Homeland Security and the first woman to lead the intelligence community as he builds out his national security team, with formal announcements planned for Tuesday, his transition team said Monday. Avril Haines is Biden’s pick to be Director of National Intelligence, charged with overseeing more than a dozen federal offices from the CIA to National Security Agency. If confirmed, she’d be the first woman to serve as director of national intelligence, a position that was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Biden also plans to name Alejandro Mayorkas, who led the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency in the Obama administration, to lead the Department of Homeland Security. That’ll make him the first Latino to run a department tasked with enforcing the nations immigration laws. Former Secretary of State John Kerry will return as a climate czar in Biden’s administration, signaling the importance the incoming administration will put on an issue largely dismissed by President Donald Trump, who said the Paris climate agreement was largely designed to undermine American competitiveness. The Biden transition team’s announcement on Monday didn’t say who his picks for other key agencies will be, including secretary of defense. Biden is building his senior team as President Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede the election and his administration declines to cooperate with the president-elect’s team. Biden’s team is concerned that its lack of access to the government will hobble security efforts. “We have no time to lose when it comes to our national security and foreign policy,” he said in a statement. Bloomberg News reported Sunday that former Biden advisor Antony Blinken will be named secretary of state, while Jake Sullivan will be national security adviser. In addition, Linda Thomas-Greenfield will be Biden’s nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Thomas-Greenfield spent nearly four decades at the State Department and led served as assistant secretary for African affairs before leaving early in the Trump administration. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake