Biden officially names Homeland Security secretary and director of national intelligence


President-elect Joe Biden's transition team officially announced his nominees for several key national security posts on Monday.
As had previously been reported, Antony Blinken will be the nominee for secretary of state, Linda Thomas-Greenfield gets the nod for United Nations ambassador, and Jake Sullivan has been tapped as national security adviser.
The announcement also reveals Biden will nominate Alejandro Mayorkas for Homeland Security secretary and Avril Haines for director of national intelligence. If confirmed, Mayorkas, who served deputy secretary of homeland security in the Obama administration and helped create the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, would be the first immigrant and Latino to run the department, the transition team noted.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
John Kerry will also be back in the mix as Biden's special envoy for climate. The former secretary of state signed the Paris Climate Agreement on behalf of the U.S. in 2015, a deal which Biden is expected to rejoin. Read more about Biden's picks here. Tim O'Donnell
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Mamdani is promising government-run grocery stores. How would that work?
Talking Points The goal: To make food cheaper and more accessible
-
Penn wipes trans swimmer records in deal with Trump
speed read The University of Pennsylvania will bar transgender students from its women's sports teams and retroactively strip a trans female swimmer of her titles
-
Thai court suspends prime minister over leaked call
Speed Read Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended, pending an ethics investigation
-
Thai court suspends prime minister over leaked call
Speed Read Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended, pending an ethics investigation
-
Senate passes GOP megabill after Alaska side deal
The pivotal yes vote came from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whose support was secured following negotiated side deals for her home state Alaska
-
Trump sues LA over immigration policies
Speed Read He is suing over the city's sanctuary law, claiming it prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities
-
Obama, Bush and Bono eulogize USAID on final day
Speed Read The US Agency for International Development, a humanitarian organization, has been gutted by the Trump administration
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible