All the women of President... Biden

Joe Biden's inauguration will mark the beginning of a new White House Administration and a different way of looking at the world. At least, that is what is expected from old Europe. 
 
Joe Biden, a 78-year-old professional politician who was already immersed in public affairs at just over 25, is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces and a giant federal organization, so his success depends heavily on being surrounded by a team of experienced and efficient people, as he predicts it will be. 

Her first and risky bet was to choose Kamala Harris, the first woman to hold the position of vice president of the great American nation, as her political partner. Of Tamil Indian descent on her mother's side and Jamaican on her father's, this gesture towards important and large minorities will not be the only one, especially when it comes to placing women around him and in key management positions.  

Joe Biden has already nominated a select group of women to be his most immediate traveling companions, and in some cases, the only step left is to receive the Senate's hearing and confirmation. This should be the case for at least two of his top government contributors and many others he has recruited from President Barack Obama's time in office, of which Biden was vice president from 2009 to 2017.  

One of the stars of his Executive is Janet Yellen, 74, who has been elected to the post of Secretary of the Treasury and to lead one of the major priorities that concern the new tenant of the Oval Office: fighting the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic and setting economic policy.

The first woman to head the Treasury Department, Janet Yellen has more than enough experience in the financial world. A professor of economics at Harvard University, she was the first member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2014 to 2018 after serving as the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisors during the Clinton administration.  

Another candidate is Avril Haines, 52, who Biden himself announced in late November as the first woman to captain all the secret services as director of National Intelligence. Her job is to lead and coordinate all 17 intelligence agencies. 

She is not a newcomer but a security veteran. The first female deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), she was also a member of President Obama's team of direct advisors. She is also an old acquaintance of Biden's, with whom she collaborated when he was head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

Joe Biden's priorities for senior appointments do not include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA. Neither did his predecessors Trump and Obama, who took between 3 and 6 months to appoint the right person to captain the Agency. 

But in view of the top-level appointments already made by the new federal president, the new administration is looking forward to appointing the first woman to lead the destinies of a world-renowned organization with 62 years of history. Joe Biden is likely to finally make that decision. In due course, no rush.

The above forecast is supported by the fact that the eight-person transition team appointed in November to carry out the relay with the outgoing NASA team is led by Ellen Stofan. She is a planetary geologist, former chief scientist of the Agency between 2013 and 2016 and the current director of the prestigious and important Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, the first woman to hold the position.  

However, there are also antecedents to the contrary. Lori Garver was the woman appointed by Barack Obama to captain a transition group to relieve George W. Bush's leadership of NASA. But, in the end, Obama was inclined to appoint former military and African-American astronaut Charles Bolden to pilot the Agency and placed Lori Garver as second in command.

As if that weren't enough, there are four other women on Ellen Stofan's transition team. Among them is Pamela Melroy (59), a retired Air Force colonel and astronaut who accumulated three space missions aboard space shuttles during the 2000s. Upon leaving the Agency she has held important positions, including at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). She is also a strong candidate. 

Other three candidates cannot be ruled out either. They are African-American astrophysicist Jedidah Isler; technology policy researcher and NASA advisor Bhavya Lal, who is of Indian origin; and also African-American and climate and environmental expert Shannon Valley, who serves as a bridge between Congress and the Agency on science programs.  

Without being exhaustive, many other women are already on the list for positions close to the president. Among her longtime associates, the White House will be joined by Jen Psaki, her next press secretary, a veteran State Department spokeswoman; Jennifer (Jen) O'Malley Dillon, her campaign manager, will be the deputy chief of staff for the President's Cabinet headed by Biden's right-hand man, attorney Ron Klain; Dana Remus, will be one of his senior advisors, as she was during the election; Neera Tanden will head the Budget Office; and Julie Chavez Rodriguez, of Mexican origin, will be the director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.