Biden wants retired general as defense secretary | Abroad

He was also the highest-ranking soldier during the operations in Iraq under Barack Obama’s presidency. He retired in 2016 and has since held several corporate positions.

Biden also said on Monday that he will be filling a number of important cabinet posts before Christmas. He wants to announce the name of the Minister of Justice this week and later this month also the filling in of the posts of the Interior and the Ministry of Trade.

Care

On Sunday (local time), Biden announced that he has selected California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as a candidate for the post of Secretary of Health. He also recommends Rochelle Walensky, chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts hospital, to lead the US health authority CDC.

Becerra is tasked with leading the health ministry as it struggles to tackle the country’s coronavirus. In recent times, record numbers of Americans have become infected with the lung virus every day and more than 2,000 residents die every day. The US is also preparing a major vaccination campaign. To date, more than 283,500 Americans have died from Covid-19, while a total of nearly 15 million Americans have been infected with corona.

Biden, who will take up the highest office from 20 January next year, has already announced his choices for the ministerial posts of Foreign Affairs (Anthony Blinken), Finance (Janet Yellen) and Homeland Security (Alejandro Mayorkas). He wants to nominate former presidential candidate John Kerry as ‘climate pope’ and Avril Haines as intelligence chief.

Immunologist Anthony Fauci, criticized by current President Donald Trump, will also remain in office under the new president. Biden asked him to remain in his post last week and join his Covid team once the Democrat is installed.

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