ウィスパリング同時通訳研究会コミュの Joe Biden Announcement Cabinet

Joe Biden: (00:15)
Everybody, okay. (00:18)　Well, good afternoon, everyone. Today, I’m pleased to announce nominations and staff for critical foreign policy national security positions in my administration. It’s a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure. And it’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it. Once again sit at the head of the table. Ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies. Ready to stand up for our values. In fact, in calls from world leaders that I’ve had, about 18 or 20 so far, I’m not sure the exact number, in the week since we won the election, I’ve been struck by how much they’re looking forward to the United States reasserting its historic role as a global leader, both in the Pacific, as well as the Atlantic, all across the world.

(01:15)　The team meets this moment, this team behind me. They embody my core beliefs that America is strongest when it works with it’s allies. Collectively, this team has secured some of the most defining national security and diplomatic achievements in recent memory, made possible through decades of experience working with our partners. That’s how we truly keep America safe, without engaging in needless military conflicts, and our adversaries in check, and terrorists at bay. And that’s how we counter terrorism and extremism, control this pandemic and future ones, deal with [inaudible 00:01:55] crisis, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats in emerging technologies that spread authoritarianism, and so much more.

(02:04)　And while this team has unmatched experience and accomplishments, they also reflect the idea that we can not meet these challenges with old thinking and unchanged habits. For example, we’re going to have the first woman lead the intelligence community, the first Latino and immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security, and a groundbreaking diplomat at the United Nations. We’re going to have a principle on the National Security Council who’s full-time job is to fight climate change. For the first time ever that will occur. And my national security team will be coordinated by one of the youngest national security advisors in decades.

(02:46)　Experience and leadership, fresh thinking and perspective, and an unrelenting belief in the promise of America. I’ve long said that America leads not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. And I’m proud to put forward this incredible team that will lead by example.

(03:09)　As Secretary of State, I nominate Tony Blinken. He’s one of the better prepared for this job. No one’s better prepared in my view. He will be the Secretary of State who previously served in top roles on Capitol Hill, in the White House and in the State Department. He delivered for the American people in each place. For example, leading our diplomatic efforts and the fight against ISIS, strengthening America’s alliance and positions in the Asian-Pacific, guiding our responses to the global refugee crisis with compassion and determination. And he will rebuild morale and trust in the State Department, where his career in government began.

(03:52)　And he starts off with the kind of relationships around the world that many of his predecessors have had to build over the years. I know, I’ve seen him in action. Tony’s been one of my closest and most trusted advisors. I know him and his family, immigrants and refugees, a Holocaust survivor, who taught him to never take for granted the very idea of America as a place of possibilities. Possibilities. Tony is ready on day one.

(04:24)　As Secretary for Homeland Security, I nominate Alejandro Mayorkas. This is one of the hardest jobs in government, a gigantic agency. The DHS Secretary needs to keep us safe from threats at home and from abroad and it’s the job that plays a critical role in fixing our broken immigration system. After years of chaos, dysfunction and absolute cruelty a DHS, I’m proud to nominate an experienced leader who has been hailed by both Democrats and Republicans. Ally as he goes by is a former US attorney, former Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and a former DHS Deputy Secretary. Helped implement DACA, prevented attacks on the homeland, enhanced our cybersecurity, helped communities recover from natural disaster, combated Ebola and Zika. And while DHS affects everyone, given it’s critical role in immigration matters I’m proud that for the first time ever the department will be led by an immigrant, a Latino, who knows that we are a nation of laws and values. And one more thing, today’s his birthday. Happy birthday, man, happy birthday. He’s 21.

(05:45)　As a Director of National Intelligence, I nominate Avril Haine, the first woman ever to hold this post. To lead our intelligence community I didn’t pick a politician or a political figure. I picked a professional. She’s eminently qualified. Former Deputy Director of the CIA, former Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama, and a fierce advocate for telling the truth and leveling with her decisions with the decision makers, straight up, nothing unnecessary. I know because I’ve worked with her for over a decade. Brilliant, humble, can talk literature and theoretical physics, fixing cars, flying planes, running a bookstore cafe, all in a single conversation, because she’s done all that. And above all, if she gets word of a threat coming to our shores, like another pandemic or a foreign interference in our elections, she will not stop raising alarms until the right people take action. People will be able to take her word because she always calls it as she sees it. I believe we are safer with Avril on a watch. I think she can make a great contribution.

(07:03)　And as United States Ambassador to the United Nations I nominate Linda Thomas Greenfield. A seasoned and distinguished diplomat with 35 years in the foreign service who never forgot where she came from, growing up in segregated, Louisiana, the eldest of eight, her dad couldn’t read or write, but she said he was the smartest person she knew. First in her family to graduate from high school, then college, with the whole world literally ahead of her as her dad and mom taught her to believe. Post in Switzerland, Pakistan, Kenya, The Gambia, Nigeria, Jamaica, Liberia, where she was known as the people’s ambassador. Willing to meet with anyone, an ambassador, a student, working people struggling to get by, and always treating them with the same level of dignity and respect. She was our top State Department official in charge of African policy during the Ebola crisis. She received overwhelming support from her fellow career foreign service officers. And she’ll be a cabinet status because I want to hear her voice on all the major foreign policy discussions we have.

(08:15)　And my National Security Advisor, I choose Jake Sullivan. He’s once in a generation intellect with experience and temperament for one of the toughest jobs in the world. When I was Vice President, he served as my National Security Advisor. He was a top advisor to Secretary of State Clinton. He helped lead the early negotiations that led to the Iran nuclear deal. He helped broker the Gaza ceasefire in 2012, played a key role in Asia Pacific rebalance in our administration, and in this campaign for the presidency he served as one of my most trusted advisors on both foreign and domestic policy, including help me develop our COVID-19 strategy. Jake understands my vision, that economic security is national security, and it helps steer what I call a foreign policy for the middle class, for families like his growing up in Minnesota, where he was raised by parents who were educators, and taught him the values of hard work, decency, service and respect.

Joe Biden: (09:20)　What that means is to win the competition for the future we need to keep us safe and secure, and build back better than ever. We need to invest in our people, sharpen our innovative edge, unite the economic might of our democracies around the world to grow the middle class, and reduce inequity and do things like counter predatory trade practices of our competitors and our adversaries.

(09:49)　And before I talk about the final person today, let me talk about this new position. For the first time ever the United States will have a full-time climate leader who’ll participate in ministerial level meetings-

(10:02)… participate in ministerial level meetings. And that’s a fancy way of saying they’ll have a seat at every table around the world. For the first time ever, there will be a principal on the NASA Security Council who can make sure climate change is on the agenda in the situation room. For the first time ever, we will have a Presidential Envoy on climate. He will be matched with high level White House climate policy coordinator and policymaking structure to be announced in December. And that’ll lead efforts here in the United States to combat the climate crisis, mobilize action, to meet the existential threat that we face. Let me be clear. I don’t for a minute underestimate the difficulties of meeting my bold commitments to fighting climate change. But at the same time, no one should underestimate for a minute my determination to do just that.

(10:57)　And as for the man himself, if I had a former secretary of state who helped negotiate the Paris Climate Accord, or a former presidential nominee, or a former leading Senator, or the head of a major climate organization for the job, that would show my commitment to the United States and the whole world. The fact that I picked the one person who was all of these things speaks unambiguously to my commitment. The world will know that with one of my closest friends, John Kerry, he’s speaking for America on one of the most pressing threats of our time. No one I trust more.

(11:37)　To this team, I thanked them for accepting this call to service. And for their families, I thank you all for your sacrifice. We could not do this without you, in my view. Together, these public servants will restore America globally, it’s global leadership, and it’s moral leadership. And will ensure that our service members, diplomats, and intelligence professionals can do their job free of politics. They’ll not only repair, they’ll also reimagine American foreign policy and NASA security for the next generation. And they’ll tell me what I need to know, not what I want to know, what I need to know. To the American people, this team will make us proud to be Americans. And as more states certify the results of this election, there’s progress to wrap up our victory.

(12:35)　I’m pleased to have received the ascertainment from GSA to carry out a smooth and peaceful transition of power so our teams can prepare to meet the challenges at hand, to control the pandemic, to build back better, and to protect the safety and security of the American people. And to the United States Senate, I hope these outstanding nominees received a prompt hearing and that we can work across the aisle in good faith to move forward for the country. Let’s begin that work to heal and unite, to heal and unite America as well as the world. I want to thank you all. May God bless you. May God protect our troops. And now I turn this over, this new team, starting with our next secretary of state, Tony Blinken. Get my mask here, Tony, so I don’t get in trouble. And we’re going to clean off the podium.

Tony Blinken: (13:50)
Good afternoon. Mr. President-elect, Vice President-elect Harris, thank you for your trust and your confidence. If confirmed by the United States Senate, I will do everything I can to earn it. Mr. President-elect, working for you, having you as a mentor and friend has been the greatest privilege of my professional life. So many people have brought me to this day. From college classmates to band mates, my colleagues in the Clinton and Obama administrations, in the Senate, and at the State Department. I thank them all. And I ask forgiveness for my insatiable appetite for bad puns. Mostly, I’d like to thank my family. Sisters and sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews, my wonderful in-laws, the Ryans, and especially my wife, Evan Ryan, and our children, John and Leila. They are truly my greatest blessings.

(14:55)　For my family, as for so many generations of Americans, America has literally been the last best hope on earth. My grandfather, Maurice Blinken, fled pogroms in Russia and made a new life in America. His son, my father, Donald Blinken, served in the United States Air Force during World War II, and then as a United States ambassador. He is my role model and my hero. His wife, Vera Blinken, fled communist Hungary as a young girl and helped future generations of refugees come to America. My mother, Judith Pisar, builds bridges between America and the world through arts and culture. She is my greatest champion.

(15:44)　And my late stepfather, Samuel Pisar, he was one of 900 children in his school in Bialystok, Poland, but the only one to survive the Holocaust after four years in concentration camps. At the end of the war, he made a break from a death march into the woods in Bavaria. From his hiding place, he heard a deep rumbling sound. It was a tank. But instead of the iron cross, he saw painted on its side a five pointed white star. He ran to the tank, the hatch opened, an African-American GI looked down at him. He got down on his knees and said the only three words that he knew in English that his mother taught him before the war, God bless America.

(16:32)　That’s who we are. That’s what America represents to the world, however imperfectly. Now we have to proceed with equal measures of humility and confidence. Humility because, as the president-elect said, we can’t solve all the world’s problems alone. We need to be working with other countries. We need their cooperation. We need their partnership. But also confidence because America at its best still has a greater ability than any other country on earth to bring others together to meet the challenges of our time. And that’s where the men and women of the State Department, foreign service officers, civil service, that’s where they come in. I’ve witnessed their passion, their energy, their courage up close. I’ve seen what they do to keep us safe, to make us more prosperous. I’ve seen them add luster to a word that deserves our respect, diplomacy. If confirmed, it will be the honor of my life to help guide them. And so thank you all. And may God bless America.