Biden taps Blinken for top diplomat, Kerry as climate envoy

US President-elect Joe Biden announced key figures for his cabinet on Monday, picking longtime foreign policy advisor Antony Blinken to be his secretary of state and former US chief diplomat John Kerry as his special climate envoy.

Biden also nominated the first Latino ever, Cuba-born lawyer Alejandro Mayorkas, to lead the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration.

And he picked Avril Haines, the former deputy CIA director, as his director of national intelligence.

All are veterans of the former Obama-Biden administration, and deeply experienced in their fields.

"We have no time to lose when it comes to our national security and foreign policy," Biden said in a statement.

"These individuals are equally as experienced and crisis-tested as they are innovative and imaginative," he said.

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