Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Connecticut voters approved early voting. Here’s how their new secretary of state wants to make it happen.

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 13
      • Women lawmakers in Minnesota are in the vanguard of the democracy movement

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 3
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Election 2024
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Military
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

Please check your email to confirm your subscription!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, photographed at the ribbon cutting for the new Chicago Veterans' Home on Veterans Day 2020, is believed to be on Biden’s potential list for a potentially history-making Defense secretary. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Politics

Biden could make history with Defense Department pick

A number of women are being considered for key foreign policy posts in Biden’s administration, including what could be the first woman to lead the Pentagon.

Amanda Becker

Washington Correspondent

Amanda Becker portrait

Published

2020-11-20 07:01
7:01
November 20, 2020
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

President-elect Joe Biden has already begun considering who will head the departments and agencies critical to repairing what he has characterized as the country’s deteriorating relationships with foreign allies and alliances abroad. And, in at least one department, he could potentially make history by appointing a woman.

There are three cabinet-level agencies — Defense, Treasury and Veterans Affairs — that have never been headed by a woman, and several women are thought to be on Biden’s shortlist for the top Pentagon post.

Biden’s transition team is not commenting on its deliberations, but here are some of the women the former vice president is said to be considering for top foreign policy, diplomacy and defense positions. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Susan Rice

Rice was one of several women Biden considered for the vice presidential slot that eventually went to Kamala Harris. Now Rice, a former national security adviser to President Barack Obama, has been floated as a potential pick to lead the State Department or another top diplomatic or defense post. Rice also served as Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations and as a former assistant secretary of state and National Security Council staffer under President Bill Clinton. 

Rice would bring years of experience to a post in Biden’s administration, but, because of that experience, her confirmation in a closely divided Senate could be difficult. Republicans have alleged that Rice misled the public about the 2012 Benghazi attacks at a U.S. diplomatic post in Libya that killed four Americans. Rice withdrew from consideration to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in part due to the controversy. Republicans have also criticized Rice’s request, as national security advisor, to “unmask” the identities of some individuals in intelligence reports who were linked to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and transition.

Samantha Power

Power succeeded Rice as ambassador to the U.N. during Obama’s second term, and she is often mentioned as a possible top diplomat in Biden’s administration. She advised Obama’s State Department transition team and advised the former president as a member of his National Security Council. At the U.N., Power focused on women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, human trafficking and refugee issues. Her academic work has focused on ethnic genocide prevention. Power has been involved with Biden’s campaign despite embracing the use of military force for humanitarian intervention to a greater degree than Biden himself. Power could also return as U.N. ambassador. 

Wendy Sherman

Sherman, a high-ranking State Department official during Obama’s administration, has been floated to lead the diplomatic agency under Biden or, perhaps more likely, serve as U.N. ambassador. Sherman led nuclear negotiations with Iran as the State Department’s undersecretary for political affairs. Sherman also coordinated the agency’s North Korea policy during the Clinton administration in the 1990s. Sherman began her career as a social worker and was director of EMILY’s List, a group that funds the campaigns of Democratic candidates who support abortion access. The political nature of the post could prompt Republican pushback in a confirmation setting. 

Michèle Flournoy

Biden’s administration could make history with the first female U.S. Defense secretary and Flournoy, a political moderate and Pentagon veteran, is considered a front-runner for that role. Flournoy was an undersecretary of defense policy — becoming the highest-ranking woman in the department’s history — during Obama’s administration. There, she shaped the U.S. responses in Afghanistan and Libya. Flournoy previously served as a deputy assistant secretary for strategy during the Clinton administration. 

In recent months, she advocated to speed up the development of technology to compete with China and said that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the need to broaden what we consider a national security issue. Flournoy co-founded the Center for New American Security, a for-profit think tank that specializes in national security issues, as well as Westexec Advisors, which counsels corporate clients on geopolitical risk. Her corporate clients would likely be scrutinized by progressives during confirmation proceedings. 

Tammy Duckworth

Duckworth is an Iraq War veteran and Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois who is also believed to be on Biden’s potential list for a potentially history-making Defense secretary. Duckworth was a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army and was awarded a Purple Heart after her aircraft was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade that caused injuries resulting in the loss of both of her legs. With the birth of her second daughter in 2018, Duckworth became the first U.S. senator to give birth while in office. Duckworth’s daughter was the first infant allowed on the Senate floor when she held the 10-day-old during a vote. Duckworth was also a potential vice presidential pick for Biden.

She previously served as an assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs during the Obama administration and as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. If Duckworth were appointed to Biden’s cabinet, her Senate seat would be filled by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat.  

Kathleen Hicks

Biden tapped Hicks, the director of the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), to lead his transition’s Defense Department agency review team, half of which is women. Hicks, who served as a deputy undersecretary of defense policy and defense strategy during the Obama administration, is thought to be a dark-horse pick to lead the department or a likely appointee to another senior Pentagon post. 

Lisa Monaco

Monaco, a counterterrorism and homeland security adviser to Obama, is a likely contender for several foreign policy positions, including to head the Department of Homeland Security or be director of national intelligence. She has a relationship with Biden that dates back to his years in the Senate, where she worked on the Violence Against Women Act as a member of his Judiciary Committee staff in the 1990s. During the Obama administration, she was the first and only woman to date to serve as the assistant attorney general for national security. 

Val Demings

Demings, a House lawmaker from Florida since 2017, was also among the women Biden reportedly considered to be his vice president. She is now thought to be on Biden’s shortlist to head the Department of Homeland Security. Demings, a 27-year law enforcement veteran and the first woman to serve as Orlando’s chief of police from 2007 to 2011, serves on the House panels on homeland security, judiciary and intelligence. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tapped Demings to serve as the impeachment manager during the Senate trial of Trump. 

Avril Haines

Haines, who has been advising Biden’s transition team on foreign relations, has been floated as a possible pick to head the Central Intelligence Agency or be the director of national intelligence. During the Obama administration, Haines was a deputy national security adviser and the first woman to be a deputy CIA director. At the agency, Haines was involved in the project to redact the Senate torture report examining CIA interrogation tactics. She also accepted an accountability board’s recommendation that CIA staff should not be disciplined for spying on Senate investigators. That, and Haine’s support for Trump-appointed CIA deputy director Gina Haspel, despite her involvement in the agency’s torture program, could generate pushback from progressives to her confirmation. 

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

Please check your email to confirm your subscription!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

From the Collection

On The Rise

Illustration of three women marching
  • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

    Candice Norwood · October 11
  • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

    Nadra Nittle · September 8
  • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

    Candice Norwood · July 20

Up Next

Politics

The women who could lead Biden’s economic recovery

A significant number of women are being considered for key economic slots in the Biden administration, including as secretaries of Treasury, Commerce and Labor. 

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram