That puts the president at least a month behind the Obama administration, which began announcing appointments in March 2009. Mr. Trump, for his part, left some assignments, like U.S. envoy to Singapore, vacant for the entirety of his administration, after his initial pick, K.T. She withdrew her nomination after Democrats accused her of misleading lawmakers over whether she had known about discussions between the former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn and a Russian diplomat. Democrats said the dissolution of the United States’ standing abroad over the past four years would make Mr. Biden’s selections more important and more scrutinized. Because of the challenge of installing a diverse group representative of the United States in such posts, Biden administration officials have told candidates to name more than one country in which they would be willing to serve.

Source: New York Times March 19, 2021 21:33 UTC