Susan Rice Says She Is Qualified to Serve in Biden Cabinet

Susan Rice participates in a discussion Oct. 14, 2016 at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former Obama administration national security adviser Susan Rice said Friday that she is eligible to serve in Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s administration if he is elected and chooses her.

Rice said she’s qualified to be Biden’s secretary of state or defense in Biden’s potential administration. “I can do that” when she was asked by an interviewer if she would be Biden’s secretary of defense or state. Rice also suggested she would be willing to serve in another capacity.

However, in the interview, she stressed that it’s up to Biden.

“This is up to the next president of the United States and the Senate, if these are going to be Senate-confirmed positions. So let’s just hold our horses here. Job one … is we got to get Joe Biden and Kamala Harris elected,” Rice said in an interview, according to The Hill. “That is vital. And we need to flip the Senate. And then Joe Biden needs to decide what team he wants around him and in what constellation,” she said.

Rice added that she was in charge of former President Barack Obama’s national security council and was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Ted Kaufman, another one of Biden’s advisors and a former senator, said that cabinet picks will rely on those with experience.

“I think this is about getting seasoned people that are really qualified to do the job. People with experience, people that are smart as hell and people that reflect America,” Kaufman said in a Politico interview. “A lot of this isn’t about ideology or anything else. It’s totally about what do you do” after President Donald Trump’s administration, he said.

Ex-President Barack Obama, accompanied by, from left, former Secretary of State John Kerry, former Vice President Joe Biden, and former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, during a meeting in Washington on March 31, 2016. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

Rice’s career started in President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council, where she served from 1993 to 1997 as director for international organizations and peacekeeping. She also was the special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs.

Rice was then appointed to be the assistant secretary of state for African affairs between 1997 and 2001. She served as Obama’s U.N. envoy between 2009 and 2013 before becoming the national security adviser from 2013 until 2017.

However, if Rice is nominated in a potential Biden administration, Republicans in Congress will likely criticize her record while serving in the Obama administration, citing her handling of the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which left several Americans dead including an ambassador.

Reports earlier this summer suggested that Rice may have been tapped to become Biden’s vice-presidential pick. However, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was picked earlier this month.