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Biden’s new secretary of state ready to take on the Middle East

Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden's choice to lead the State Department, has worked alongside Biden for nearly two decades.

Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on July 28, 2014 in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN        (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on July 28, 2014, in Washington, DC. — Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

President-elect Joe Biden named foreign policy veteran Antony Blinken as his pick for Secretary of State on Monday, tasking a trusted aide with fulfilling his campaign pledge to reassert America’s standing on the world stage. 

Blinken, 58, has worked alongside the incoming president for nearly two decades, dating back to Biden’s chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Blinken also served as a senior director at the national security council and foreign policy speechwriter in the Clinton White House, and later rose through the ranks of the Obama administration to serve as deputy secretary of state from 2015-2017. Blinken was Biden’s chief foreign policy adviser during the 2020 presidential campaign. 

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