Together, these public servants will restore America globally, its global leadership and its moral leadership. It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it.
President-Elect Joe Biden, in announcing his foreign policy team
The President-Elect’s national security nominees are smart, ethical, and experienced government professionals committed to returning America to its position as a global leader.
experience is back
Three are distinguished US State Department veterans — John Kerry, former Secretary of State (and Foreign Service kid); Antony Blinken, former Deputy Secretary of State; and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career Foreign Service officer. National Security Advisor nominees Jake Sullivan is an Obama White House alumnus. Director of National Intelligence nominee Avril Haines is a former deputy director of the CIA. Alejandro Mayorcas, Homeland Security nominee, a Cuban refugee brought to America at age 1, was Homeland Security deputy secretary.
Diplomacy is back
Here are the words I will remember when Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20, 2021.
My fellow career diplomats and public servants around the world, I want to say to you, ‘America is back, multilateralism is back, diplomacy is back.’
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, UN Ambassador nominee
My father and mother brought me to this country to escape communism [in Cuba]. They cherished our democracy, and were intensely proud to become United States citizens, as was I.
Alejandro Mayorcas, Homeland Security nominee
[My stepfather, the only one of 900 children in his Polish school to survive WWII] got down on his knees and said the only three words he knew in English that his mother had taught him before the war. God bless America.
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State nominee
Public service is back
In his remarks, Kerry did homage to President Kennedy, gunned down 57 years ago. I’ve written about being in Washington that day.
57 years ago this week, Joe Biden and I were college kids when we lost the president who inspired us both to make a difference, a president who reminded us that, here on Earth, God’s work must truly be our own. Joe Biden will trust in God, and he will also trust in science to guide our work on Earth to protect God’s creation.
John Kerry, Presidential Envoy on Climate Change
To a person, Biden’s nominees have careers that answer Kennedy’s ringing challenge.
Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy’s inauguration address, January 20, 1961.
Sixty years later, on January 20, 2021, we will celebrate the return to public service.