Joe Biden began announcing picks for his cabinet this week, even as incumbent Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede, citing alleged widespread voter fraud. On Tuesday, Biden selected Antony Blinken – his former vice-presidential national security adviser and a proponent of war in Iraq, Libya and Syria – for the key post of secretary of state.
The Biden camp is actively considering naming Democrat congresswoman for Michigan, Elissa Slotkin – a former CIA analyst, senior Pentagon official and Iraq War intelligence operative – as his CIA director, the New York Times has reported, citing people said to be familiar with the deliberations.
The 44-year-old New York City native is known to have served three tours of duty in Iraq as a CIA militia expert during the late Bush and early Obama administrations, and then to have gone on to work at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and for the National Security Council. In 2012, she moved to the Pentagon and, in 2015, was tapped for the role of acting secretary of defence for international security affairs.
During her bid for Congress in 2018, the World Socialist Website named Slotkin as one of ‘The CIA Democrats', ie, one of a peculiarly large body of former intelligence and military personnel seeking to compete for vulnerable Republican-held seats in the mid-term elections.
Criticism of Trump
Slotkin co-authored an op-ed in The Detroit News last week
