With the presidency in sight now, Joe Biden’s campaign has accelerated the process for power transition
in the White House, earmarking officials likely to head the key departments in
the new administration.

Biden secured himself a four-year sojourn at the White
House by winning the crucial Pennsylvania state on Saturday, bagging 20
electoral votes. With his prospects as the next US President now cloudless –
except for concerns about recounting in several states as Trump’s been
insisting – Biden can now fully focus on the next step,  which is to look for candidates to staff his administration.

The process is called ‘presidential transition’ and involves
handing over of reins by the outgoing president to the incoming one. The
process is helped along by several federal agencies and the members of staff
from the previous administration.

The process usually takes place between the date of election
in November and the day of inauguration in January.

Camped at his house in Wilimington, Delaware, Democrat Party’s
Joe Biden has formed a team to see through the transition of power before the
inauguration day, a process that he kick-started in March after his nomination for
the post.

Biden has been a vociferous critic of Trump’s Covid response
strategy. If talks are to be believed, he is now moving to bring the Indian-origin former Surgeon General under Obama to head the response against the
pandemic.

According to an article in New York Times, Vivek Murthy, who
has advised Biden on Covid for months, is likely to be the next administration’s
face for fight against the Covid-19.

Biden ran a campaign championing diversity and, according to
the insiders, he is likely to have the same diversity in the make-up of his
cabinet and other staff.

Like anyone would, Biden is keen on filling the top key
posts first. His transition campaign is being headed by Ted Kaufman, his chief
of staff in the Senate, who got the job left by Biden when he chose to run
for the presidency.

According to the NYT article, Ron Klein, the chief of staff for
the former vice president is being considered by him now to be his chief of staff
in the new administration.   

Also, if he has his way, Biden may end up choosing a woman
to head the defense ministry, a thing that has never happened before.  

“The top candidate to lead the Defense Department is Michèle
Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defense for policy who worked with Biden
officials during the campaign. She would be the first woman ever to be
appointed to the job,” The NYT article said.

Another key post, that of the National Security Advisor, may
got to the lot of Antony J. Blinken, who acted as the National Security Advisor
for Biden during his vice presidency.

According to the article, Susan Rice – the NSA in the second
Obama administration– may be in the race for the crucial Secretary of State
post, but her chances are likely to be frustrated by a Republican-dominated
Senate, which enjoys a say in the approval for such top posts, and which caused
her to pull out of the race for the post even earlier in 2012.  

Blinken, who served as the deputy secretary of state too for
two years under Obama, is also said to be a likely choice for the post of top
diplomat of the country.

 “The transition team
has already assembled a staff of more than 75 officials, with plans for that
number to balloon to roughly 300 transition staff members by Inauguration Day
in January.

“The administrator for the General Services Administration
has the legal authority to release about $6.6 million in federal funding to
Biden’s transition, and in past years has done that soon after the race is
called,” the article said.