US President George W. Bush filled up all positions in his 15-member
second-term cabinet Tuesday with the nomination of federal appeals court judge
Michael Chertoff as the new Homeland Security Department chief.
The new cabinet will be made up of 11 men and four women, with two blacks,
two Hispanics and two Asian-Americans.
Six of Bush's first-term cabinet members will retain their positions in the
new cabinet, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Treasury Secretary
John Snow, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao,
Interior Secretary Gale Norton, and Secretary of Housing And Urban Development
Alphonso Jackson.
The remaining nine secretaries will be replaced in the new cabinet.
Michael Chertoff will replace Tom Ridge at the Homeland Security Department;
Condoleeza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, will take over from Colin
Powell at the State Department; White House counsel Alberto Gonzales will
succeed John Ashcroft at the Justice Department; and Margaret Spellings, Bush's
domestic policy adviser, will take charge of the Education Department, to
succeed Rod Paige.
In the Commerce Department, Carlos Gutierrez will replace Donald L. Evans,
and in the Agriculture Department, Michael Johanns will replace Ann M. Veneman.
Jim Nicholson, Samuel Bodman, and Mike Leavitt will respectively head the
Departments of Veterans Affairs, Energy, and Health and Human Services, to
succeed Anthony J. Principi, Spencer Abraham and Tommy Thompson.
All the nominations are subject to Senate confirmation. Bush will take the
oath of office for his second term on Jan. 20.