Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With the latest appointment of three Indian-Americans, over 30 Indian-Americans have so far been picked up to join the 46th US President Joe Biden’s team at the White House next week.
Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris, with roots in Tamil Nadu, India, was elected as the USA’s Vice President-elect in November 2020.
Joe Biden himself has distant relatives living in Maharashtra.
On Monday, the President-elect appointed three Indian-Americans on his National Security Council (NSC): Tarun Chhabra, Sumona Guha, and Shanthi Kalathil.
Never did so many Indian-Americans serve the US Administration in high-ranking positions simultaneously, an indication of their growing clout in a changing world.
So far, Biden has appointed over 30 Indian Americans to various posts in his administration, setting the stage for a more diverse White House.
Tarun Chhabra, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University, is a first-generation American who will serve as Senior Director for Technology and National Security. Earlier, he was a member of the NSC during the Barak Obama administration and served as Director for Strategic Planning, Human Rights and National Security Issues.
Sumona Guha, Senior Vice President at Albright Stonebridge Group, was co-chair of the South Asia foreign policy working group on the Biden-Harris campaign. She has been appointed as Senior Director for South Asia. During the Obama administration, she was a Special Advisor for National Security Affairs to the then Vice President, Joe Biden.
Former journalist Shanthi Kalathil will now be the Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights in the Joe Biden administration. Earlier, she was a Hong Kong-based reporter for the Asian Wall Street Journal.
Recently, Biden had nominated Indian-American Vanita Gupta as Associate Attorney General in the Department of Justice and Sabrina Singh as the White House Deputy Press Secretary.
The President-elect had also appointed Neera Tanden as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
In December, Biden had nominated Dr. Vivek Murthy to return as the USA’s Surgeon-General.
Even before the change of government, Indian-Americans had been rising in top ranks and won several elections across states.
Among them was Dr. Raj Iyer, who became the first-ever Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the US Army, a post created by the Pentagon only in July 2020.
He will supervise IT operations. He is among the highest-ranking Indian-American civilians in the US Department of Defense. His new post is equivalent to that of a Three-Star General.
