Biden’s foreign policy team has a surprising lack of diversity

The senior policy team of President-elect Biden is now largely complete, and when it comes to the leaders who will represent the U.S. internationally, it feels like a blast from the past. No, not from the Obama era, but rather from the last century, as the four most important positions will be filled by white men. Irrespective of the overall diversity of the Biden administration, this homogeneity sends a problematic message to the 7.5 billion people worldwide who will mostly see the U.S. government through these four faces. 

But Biden has an ace to play to remedy this situation. 

In the international arena, the world sees first and foremost the president and secretary of State. Foreign governments also understand the clout in international affairs that the national security adviser wields sitting with the president in the White House. Biden has, in addition, created a new high-level position on climate change that will have a strong international focus. Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, and John Kerry have been put forward by President-elect Biden to fill these leadership positions. They are all highly accomplished and joined by their experience as senior officials in the Obama administration. But, together with President-elect Biden, they constitute a cohort of four white men to represent the U.S. to the world. 

Aside from the Trump administration, this degree of homogeneity in this country’s international leadership has not been seen in more than two decades. During the Obama years, the most visible U.S. government figure in foreign affairs was Black, namely the president himself. When you looked at pictures from G-8 or G-20 meetings, the most important person from the most powerful country was a Black man. And a white woman, Hillary Clinton, served as his first secretary of State. In the preceding administration, President Bush appointed Colin Powell, a Black man, as his first secretary of State, followed by Condoleezza Rice, who is Black and a woman. Susan Rice and Condoleezza Rice, two Black women, served as national security advisers in those administrations. And before that in 1997, President Clinton appointed Madeleine Albright, a white woman, as the first female to serve as secretary of State.  

From 1997 through 2016, the U.S. consistently presented to the world a leadership team on foreign affairs that included women and people of color. This sent the important message to U.S. allies and rivals that this country’s best on foreign policy was a diverse and inclusive group of Americans. Heading into 2021, the incoming administration may unintentionally be communicating to the world an equally powerful, but uninspiring, statement that white men are most qualified to lead the U.S. in this area — echoing the type of messaging that dominated the last century and more recently has been conveyed at various points by the current administration.

There are several countervailing factors that mitigate this absence of diversity in Biden’s foreign policy leadership team. The Cabinet and senior management team the president-elect has been putting forward is very diverse, with women and people of color proposed for key economic, security and communication positions. In foreign affairs, the international community will see some diversity, including with Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a Black woman nominated to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, a position that should gain visibility as the incoming administration plans to raise the post to Cabinet-level ranking — although Nikki Haley, a woman of color, had already been very visible when she served in this role under President Trump. Similarly, it has been reported that Biden is considering nominating for the first time a woman to serve as secretary of Defense, an oft-overlooked critical part of the foreign-facing leadership team. Yet these elements do not change the homogeneity in the four leading foreign policy positions that will face outward to the rest of the world under a Biden administration. 

There is, however, one potential key player who could change this dynamic, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. In any international setting, a delegation of senior white men led by Biden would look and feel vastly different from a delegation led by Harris. Just as President Obama relied heavily on Vice President Biden for foreign affairs, incoming President Biden should do the same with Vice President Harris. Across a wide range of international contexts, her participation would convey the power of American diversity and inclusion. As a Black and Asian woman, she would also send a reminder to billions of Black and Asian people and women of all colors around the world of the opportunities and strengths of the U.S. model. Just as Americans have been impressed by Harris, so will the world — and that will support the incoming administration’s international action and reflect well on all of us. 

I recently published a piece with this news service describing how the U.S. can reassert its leadership abroad, as regards policy and other technical issues. This op-ed, in contrast, is about a sensibility: the importance of the faces the U.S. government puts before the world to represent us. Our diversity is a strength at home. We need to project that same message to 7.5 billion people abroad. Given the current configuration of Biden’s foreign-facing leadership team, Vice President Harris needs to play an active and visible role in this country’s dealings with the rest of the world. 

Philippe Benoit has more than 25 years of experience working in international affairs, including prior management positions with the World Bank and the International Energy Agency. He is currently Managing Director-Energy and Sustainability at Global infrastructure Advisory Services 2050.