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President Biden announced Tuesday that he has nominated “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot Sully Sullenberger to be an “ambassador” while also putting forward more controversial choices to serve as US ambassadors to Israel, Mexico and NATO.
If confirmed by the Senate, Sullenberger will be ambassador to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a branch of the United Nations based in Montreal that handles air travel issues.
Choosing Sullenberger is sure to distract from the scrutiny of other ambassadors’ choices.
The 70-year-old pilot gained international fame by skillfully avoiding tragedy when he safely landed American Airlines Flight 1549, carrying 155 passengers and staff, on the Hudson River in January 2009 after being hit by a flock of birds that caused an engine failure.
Biden’s other choices – all announced in the same White House email blast – are likely to lead to more opposition.
Biden has appointed Thomas Nides, who has divided Democrats in the past because of his work in major banks, to be ambassador to Israel.
Former Colorado Senator Ken Salazar, a Democrat who was President Barack Obama’s secretary of the interior, will be ambassador to Mexico. Former Biden aide Julian Smith will be ambassador to NATO.
Thomas Nides was nominated to serve as ambassador to Israel. AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, file
For decades, Nides, managing director and vice chairman of Morgan Stanley, has been a revolving door between banks and government. It is believed that Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) indirectly criticized his role in government in a 2016 speech that stopped “Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, or BlackRock to choose who runs the economy in this country so they can take over our government.”
Nedis served in Hillary Clinton’s Department of State from 2011 to 2013 and in 1994 as chief of staff for the United States Trade Representative, where he helped pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was denounced by both left and right politicians and replaced under former President Donald. trump card. Among government gigs, he worked for Fannie Mae and Credit Suisse
Salazar, who was set to lead Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential transition team, may also come under fire from both the left and the right.
Former Interior Minister Ken Salazar will be ambassador to Mexico. AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File
Although considered a centrist, Salazar will be tasked with managing the Biden administration’s rollback of immigration policies adopted under Trump – amid an immigration crisis – including the demise of the Trump-brokered “stay in Mexico” policy to claim asylum seekers from Central America. Waiting for an American decision in Mexico.
As Minister of the Interior, Salazar also directed fire from the left, including from environmentalists angry that he had allowed oil drilling in Western lands and Arctic waters.
Smith, who will lead US interactions with NATO, was Biden’s deputy national security adviser from 2011 to 2013 when he was vice president. She previously worked at the Pentagon. After the Obama administration, she worked for the consulting firm WestExec Advisors, which was co-founded by Secretary of State Tony Blinken.
Smith’s selection was announced shortly after Biden attended an annual NATO summit on Monday ahead of Wednesday’s summit meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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