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President-elect Joe Biden is considering selecting veteran diplomat Antony Blinken as the US Secretary of State this week, as the president-elect forges ahead with assembling his cabinet week even though Donald Trump still refuses to concede. Our authentic sources familiar with the Biden team’s planning have informed that the appointment of the 58-year-old long-term ally of Biden is most likely to be made as part of the first tranche of cabinet postings on Tuesday. Blinken has served as deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration and enjoys close ties with the president-elect. He would be a leading force in the incoming administration’s bid to reframe the US relationship with the rest of the world after four years in which President Trump questioned longtime alliances.

President-elect Biden will sidestep potentially thorny issues in nominating Blinken that could have affected Senate confirmation for two other candidates on his shortlist to be America’s top diplomat: Susan Rice and Chris Coons. Biden is likely to name his cabinet picks in tranches, with groups of nominees focused on a specific top area, like the economy, national security, or public health, being announced at once. If Biden focuses on national security in the first announcement, then a veteran of Pentagon policy jobs, Michèle Flournoy will be a top choice to lead the Defense Department. A longtime adviser to Biden and Hillary Clinton, Jake Sullivan is also in the mix for a top job, including White House national security adviser. Blinken recently participated in a national security briefing with President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Biden is also likely to name a Black woman who served as the assistant secretary of state for Africa under former President Obama, Linda Thomas-Greenfield as his ambassador to the UN. The president-elect has pledged to build the most diverse government in modern history. He and his team often speak about their desire for his administration to reflect America. The appointment of Blinken made another longtime Biden aide and foreign policy veteran, Jake Sullivan. Blinken became one of the founders of WestExec Advisors, a Washington consultancy advising corporations on geopolitical risks after Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Trump. He was born in New York City and Harvard-educated. Blinken also studied law briefly and entered politics in the late 1980s.