Part 1: President Trump’s cabinet positions

As I follow the first hundred days of Donald Trump’s Presidency, I will keep you updated on the official cabinet as they are confirmed. Five seats have been filled as of Feb. 6, 2017: the Secretaries of Homeland Security, Transportation, State and Defense, and the Ambassador to the United Nations. In an effort to keep you as informed as possible, I have assembled and summarized brief biographies, political histories, and the specific duties of the cabinet members.

Secretary of Homeland Security

Retired Four-Star General of the Marine Corps John F. Kelly was the former commander of the United States Southern Command, overseeing military operations in the Caribbean, Central America and South America. In 1992 he was Commanding Officer of the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (1st LAR) at Camp Pendleton, California. While in command the 1st LAR was called in to provide support for Long Beach, California during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In 1999 he served as the special assistant to the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, in Belgium. From 2002 to 2006 he served in Iraq, rising to Brigadier General.

As Secretary of Homeland Security, Kelly will oversee the department of more than 200,000 employees and ensure its mission statement. The Department of Homeland Security is most known for protecting the United States from domestic and international terrorist threats. However, the department also oversees the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Other aspects of the Department of Homeland Security include the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Secret Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Kelly will be in charge of the third largest department in the cabinet.

Secretary of Transportation

Elaine Chao is the former U.S. Secretary of Labor (2001-2009). Chao’s experience in politics dates back to the Reagan Administration. Chao was Deputy Administrator of the Maritime Administration in the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1986. In 1989, Former President George H.W. Bush nominated Chao to the position of Deputy Secretary of Transportation. From 1991 to 1992, Chao oversaw the expansion of the Peace Corps into Eastern Europe and Central Asia following the collapse of the Soviet Union as Director of the Peace Corps. Chao then worked as President and CEO of United Way of America for four years before becoming a Distinguished Fellow with the Heritage Foundation, a D.C. conservative think tank. From 2001 to 2009, Chao served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor under Former President George W. Bush and was the only cabinet member to serve all eight years of his administration. While acting Secretary she negotiated the end to a $1 billion daily quagmire with West Coast ports and labor unions. A 2008 Government Accountability Office report found that the Labor Department under Chao understated the expense of contracting out its employees to private firms. The report also found the department to be inadequate in investigating low and minimum-wage workers’ complaints that employers did not pay federal minimum wage, did not pay overtime and did not issue last paychecks. Following the Bush Administration, Chao returned to the Heritage Foundation and was a vocal advocate of U.S. – China relations. She was also paid to give speeches to organizations linked to the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, a group of Iranian exiles that has been described as a cult by the State Department and has claimed responsibility for the assassination of U.S. Army Lt. Col. Lewis L. Hawkins in 1973. Chao married Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) in 1993.

As Secretary of Transportation, Chao will oversee the Department of Transportation. This will include the formation of national transportation policies, negotiating international transportation agreements, keeping airlines in order and producing transportation legislation and research. Departments under the Department of Transportation include the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Federal Railroad Administration.

Secretary of State

Rex Tillerson is the former CEO of ExxonMobil, joining the company in 1975 and serving as chairman and CEO from 2006 to 2016. Tillerson’s time with ExxonMobil has led to close ties with Russia and the Middle East. Tillerson is also closely associated with Igor Sechin, the leader of the Siloviki, the Kremlin’s military faction. Tillerson signed an Arctic drilling contract worth up to $300 billion on behalf of ExxonMobil with Russia in 2011. Putin awarded Tillerson the Order of Friendship for his work with Russia’s energy sector. Tillerson has publicly expressed opposition to Russian sanctions. Tillerson’s ties with the Middle East involved sales to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the 2011 development of oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan in defiance of Iraqi law. Tillerson has also declined to label Saudi Arabia a human rights violator and supported the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. Tillerson stated acknowledgement that humans were causing global warming, but disagreed on the extent or possibility of a solution. He also supports a carbon tax for oil producers, a stance he held while CEO of ExxonMobil. Tillerson also vocally supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership, is a fan of deregulation, and supports free trade and globalization. Tillerson is also on record supporting the Common Core education system, having written an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in 2013.

As Secretary of State, Tillerson will be greatly involved in foreign affairs and regulations. He will be responsible for conducting negotiations with foreign representatives and managing United States embassies worldwide. Tillerson will also be President Trump’s chief adviser on foreign politics and will be responsible for coordinating U.S. Government affairs and departments overseas.

Secretary of Defense

James Mattis is a retired United States Marine Corps general. From 2007 to 2009, Mattis served as the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and commanded the United States Joint Forces Command from 2007 to 2010. After his service in the military, Mattis served on the General Dynamics Board of Directors, as well as serving as a board member of the biotech company Theranos. Mattis publicly supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and believes the lack of such a solution upsets neighboring Arab allies, disrupting relationships with United States. Mattis sees Iran as the main threat to peace in the Middle East, more-so than Al-Qaeda and ISIS. He also praised close ties with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates and argued in favor of closer ties with the intelligence communities in Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Mattis is also not a fan of Russia’s intentions to disrupt NATO and expansionist actions in Syria, Ukraine and the Baltic states.

Mattis, as Secretary of Defense, will be required to advise the president on matters relating to the military, designing American defense policies, and enacting approved military policies. The Secretary of Defense also partners with the President to create the two-person National Command Authority in order to launch nuclear weapons. Mattis will also act as the supervisor of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is the assembled heads of all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Ambassador to the United Nations

Nikki Haley is the former Governor of South Carolina, having served 2011 to 2017, and she is a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 2005 to 2011. Haley, prior to her career in politics, has worked closely with businesses since age 12, as well as sitting on the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce and the Lexington Chamber of Commerce. She ran for the South Carolina House of Representatives on an anti-tax, fiscally-conservative and education-focused platform. Haley, the daughter of immigrants, is strict on immigration and has voted in favor of a number of laws requiring stringent regulations for immigrants in South Carolina. Haley is vocally against raising taxes, regulation and unions. Haley also used her opening statement as Ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.) to rail against what she perceived as a bias against Israel. She also stated that sanctions against Russia should not be lifted until Russia cedes Crimea back to Ukraine.

As Ambassador to the United Nations, Haley will be representative of United States’ interests to the United Nations and is tasked with keeping the State Department up-to-date with events regarding the United Nations. She will also advise the State Department on what policies the United States should consider in regards to the U.N. The Ambassador will sometimes be called upon to streamline budgets and Security Council resolutions for the U.N. on behalf of the United States, and aside from the secretary-general, Haley will be the most visible member of the U.N.