US President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled picks for several high-profile ambassadorial postings, tapping career diplomats steeped in foreign policy experience – as well as political allies and aviation hero "Sully" Sullenberger.
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The picks include former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as ambassador to Mexico and former Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides as ambassador to Israel. Retired airline pilot C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, most famous for negotiating the emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River with no fatalities, has been named to serve as US representative on the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Former US Ambassador to Israel Dr. Michael Oren has said that while Nides has had limited contact with Israel, he "loves Israel" and holds moderate opinions. Oren said that Nides' appointment as ambassador would be a "blessing" to Israel.
Former Times Warner executive and political activist Gary Ginsberg spoke to Israel Hayom when it was first revealed that Nides was a leading candidate for the post, and said he could not imagine a better choice.
"Tom has a deep understanding of the state's important to the Jewish people. He has always values the great importance of the strong alliance between Israel and the US, and will certainly strengthen it as ambassador," Ginsberg said, adding that Nides was "honest" and a fervent believer in bilateral US support for Israel, and would also be a fair broker in any post to which he was appointed.
Mark Mellman, president of the Democratic Majority for Israel lobby, responded to the news of the appointment by calling Nides a "wonderful person."
"His long experience at the State Department, his outstanding diplomatic talents, his broad knowledge and his deep commitment to a strong relationship between the US and Israel make him the perfect choice for America's senior diplomat in Israel," Mellman said.
The announcement comes as Biden is on the tail end of an eight-day European trip that included stops in the United Kingdom for a meeting of the Group of Seven leaders and Belgium for a gathering of the 27 NATO countries and the US-EU summit. The trip culminates in Geneva on Wednesday with a highly anticipated meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin, where the leaders are to discuss rising tensions between their countries.
As a candidate, Biden declined to rule out appointing political donors to ambassadorships or other posts if he was elected. But he pledged that his nominees, regardless of their contributor status, would be the "best people" for their posts– suggesting he would move away from former President Donald Trump's heavy reliance on political appointees and rely more on the State Department's well of career foreign service officers.
More than 43% of Trump's ambassadorial appointments were political appointees, compared with 30.5% for Barack Obama and 31.8% for George W. Bush, according to the American Foreign Service Association. Biden hopes to keep political appointments to about 30% of ambassador picks, according to the White House.
"Nobody, in fact, will be appointed by me based on anything they contributed," Biden promised last year.
All the nominees must receive Senate confirmation before they can assume their roles.
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