President-elect Joe Biden nominated Antony Blinken as his secretary of state on Tuesday, along with several other Cabinet nominations. Blinken is a current foreign policy adviser to Biden.
Biden has said one of his top priorities is creating a less contentious relationship between America and its allies. Blinken’s deep knowledge of foreign policy will be extremely useful to Biden in repairing alliances.
Biden worked with Blinken during the Obama Administration, and Blinken served as deputy secretary of state and principal deputy national security adviser, as well as Biden’s own national security adviser. He was heavily involved in Barack Obama’s foreign policy decisions, and was even an essential player in effort to kill Osama Bin Laden in 2011.
Blinken also worked during the Clinton Administration, as a National Security Council staff member, among other roles, and was also Bill Clinton’s main foreign policy speechwriter.
If Blinken is confirmed by the Senate, his top priority will most likely be repairing relationships with international allies that have been damaged during Donald Trump’s “America First” presidency. Many career diplomats have celebrated Blinken’s nomination, as many have widely criticized Trump’s conduct of diplomacy.
“(Blinken) was a terrific deputy secretary,” said former career diplomat James Melville to CNN. “He is brilliant and kind and would be a wonderful and very effective leader of what will have to be one of the most monumental tasks in diplomacy, cleaning up the stables after the worst president and secretary of state we have ever had.”
