Meet Joe Biden's cabinet picks

Stay up to date on Mr Biden's choices

US president-elect Joe Biden has begun to name his cabinet choices, before he takes the helm in the White House on January 20.

The Cabinet is made up of the vice president, heads of 15 government departments including Defence, Education, Energy, and State, and heads of various government agencies.

Some of the positions need to be confirmed by the Senate, others are straight appointments.

Here's who has been nominated to Joe Biden's cabinet.

Secretary of State: Tony Blinken 

Mr Blinken has advised Mr Biden on foreign policy since 2002. He served as deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 after serving as Mr Obama's principal deputy national security adviser.

He entered the Obama administration as then-vice president Biden’s national security adviser.

Before that, he advised Mr Biden in the Senate when he chaired the foreign relations committee.

He also served on president Bill Clinton’s National Security Council from 1994 to 2001.

Treasury Secretary: Janet Yellen

Ms Yellen was the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, the US central banking system, and would be the first female treasury secretary. Prior to her time on the Federal Reserve, she chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Bill Clinton.

Secretary of Homeland Security: Alejandro Mayorkas

The Biden transition team says Mr Mayorkas would be the first Latino and immigrant nominated to serve as secretary of homeland security.

Mr Mayorkas was deputy secretary of homeland security in the Obama administration from 2013 to 2016 and directed US Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2009 to 2013.

Before that, he prosecuted white-collar crime in California for the US Justice Department and worked as a lawyer in the private sector.

Director of National Intelligence: Avril Haines

Ms Haines served as the principal deputy national security adviser to Mr Obama from 2015 to 2017, and the deputy director of the CIA from 2013 to 2015.

She was the first woman to hold both positions. Before that, she was a legal adviser on Mr Obama’s National Security Council and deputy chief counsel to the Senate foreign relations committee when Mr Biden served as its chairman.

Ambassador to the UN: Linda Thomas-Greenfield

A career diplomat, Ms Thomas-Greenfield served as the assistant secretary of state for African affairs.

She has also served as ambassador to Liberia and has been stationed at the US mission to the UN in Switzerland, Pakistan, Kenya, the Gambia, Nigeria and Jamaica.

Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers: Cecilia Rouse

Ms Rouse has served as the dean of the Princeton School for Public and International Affairs since 2012. Before that, she served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration and a member of the National Economic Council under the Clinton administration.

Office of Management and Budget Director: Neera Tanden

Ms Tanden is currently the president and CEO of the Centre for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington. She previously served as a senior adviser specialising in healthcare reform under President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services.

White House Chief of Staff: Ron Klain

The President-elect's first appointment. Ron Klain is responsible for preparing Mr Biden's emerging team for government, before the January 20 inauguration. Until now, this task was complicated by the absence of a formal transition process, following a long period of deliberation by the General Services Administration, the government body tasked with legally confirming the election result.

Mr Klain was formerly the chief of staff for Joe Biden when he was vice-president, as well as having led the Ebola crisis response under president Obama. He will play an important role in the administration's response to the Covid-19 crisis.