Welcome to POLITICO’s 2020 Transition Playbook, your guide to one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are urging President-elect JOE BIDEN to pick a Black Defense secretary, somewhat dimming hopes that Biden will pick MICHÈLE FLOURNOY, who would be the first female Pentagon chief, for the job, four people familiar with the discussions tell LARA SELIGMAN, TYLER PAGER, HEATHER CAYGLE and Alex.

The group has also been pushing for African-Americans to be “seriously considered” for national security jobs in the administration, said one Democratic aide.

While Flournoy is still the frontrunner, the Biden team, which has promised to be the most diverse U.S. administration in history, is concerned about the optics of the top four Cabinet officials — State, Defense, Treasury and Justice — being white, said one transition official. Biden has already announced that the secretary of State and Treasury jobs will go to ANTONY BLINKEN and JANET YELLEN, respectively, and is strongly considering picking SALLY YATES as attorney general — all of whom are white, the person said.

“At the end of the day I would say that it’s going to be hard for Biden not to pick the first female secretary of defense, but Jeh Johnson would be the first Black secretary of Defense and there are a lot of white faces,” said one former senior defense official.

Although top Biden foreign policy advisers Blinken and AVRIL HAINES are still backing Flournoy for the job, the Biden team has widened its search for a Pentagon chief to include more people of color, including former Homeland Security Secretary JEH JOHNSON and retired Army Gen. LLOYD AUSTIN, both of whom are Black, according to three people close to the transition. Sen. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-Ill.), who is Thai-American, has also been floated for the post, but is not seen as a frontrunner.

A ‘COLLECTIVE WTF’ FROM WOMEN IN NATIONAL SECURITY: As Biden delays naming a Defense secretary, women in national security came out strongly in favor of Flournoy, who made it a point to hire women at the Pentagon during her time as Pentagon policy chief in the Obama administration. Many women in the community are increasingly frustrated that Flournoy could be passed over, seeing it as another example of the most qualified woman not getting the job.

ROSA BROOKS, a Georgetown University professor and former Pentagon official, said the news that Biden is wavering on choosing Flournoy has prompted a “collective ‘what the fuck’ amongst women in particular in the national security world.”

“There have been emails and texts flying around, saying, ‘Have you heard anything? What's the holdup? What's the problem? What can we do?’” she said.

Meanwhile, Johnson and Austin come with their own baggage. As Johnson’s stock has risen, an opposition book circulated on Capitol Hill detailing his record on expanding family detention and accelerating deportations, as well as approving hundreds of drone strikes targeting civilians. The report also criticizes Johnson for his ties to the defense industry, including his position on the board of Lockheed Martin.

MILITARY IN CIVILIAN ROLES: Austin, a former commander of U.S. Central Command, would need to get a congressional waiver to serve in the Cabinet due to his status as a recent military retiree. If Biden picks Austin for the job it would mark the second time in four years that a president has sought a congressional waiver for a retired military official to serve as defense secretary, after Trump did so for JAMES MATTIS in 2016.

“After four years of chaotic civ-mil dynamics and military politicization, I see no upside to placing a retired general officer at the top of an institution that desperately needs a civ-mil reset,” said LOREN DEJONGE SCHULMAN, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, who served as a senior advisor on the National Security Council during the Obama administration.

“Moreover, seeking a second waiver to the legal prohibition on such appointments in four years further weakens it. While unfair to judge all based on a single appointment, Congress should not be comfortable with this after observing Mattis not succeed in managing the civ-mil dynamic.”

The Biden transition team declined to comment.

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In Wilmington, Del., where he received the President’s Daily Brief for the first time.

She also received the President’s Daily Brief, according to the transition.

COMMERCE CHATTER — Billionaire climate activist TOM STEYER is making a play to become Commerce secretary, people familiar with his plans tell MEGAN CASSELLA and Tyler. The former Democratic presidential candidate has been eyeing the role, and one of the people said Steyer has been “heavily organizing” to try to make it happen.

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THE VIEW FROM ACROSS THE POND — Diplomatic officials from the United Kingdom believe that Comcast executive DAVID L. COHEN is the frontrunner to be the United States’ next ambassador to the U.K., they tell Alex, despite a report over the weekend that CINDY McCAIN, the late Sen. JOHN McCAIN’s widow, is in line for the job. McCain’s endorsement of Biden has been credited with helping him win Arizona, but it’s not clear if or where she might serve in a Biden administration.

A friend of Cohen’s, meanwhile, said he has expressed his interest in the ambassadorship or being the secretary of Commerce job. Cohen hosted Biden’s campaign kickoff fundraiser in 2019 and hosted another in September 2019, when some pundits were writing Biden off. He is also a wily D.C. operator, as this 2012 WaPo profile captured.

FIRST IN TRANSITION PLAYBOOK: MoveOn is making a cable ad buy this week urging the Biden administration to “go big” rather than moderate. It is the latest instance of the ongoing campaign by the left-wing to sway BIDEN and his close aides in their direction. The ad buy is just 5-figures but is just in the DC market. Watch the ad here.

ICYMI: Biden has settled on BRIAN DEESE, an Obama White House veteran who’s now the global head of sustainable investing at BlackRock, as director of the National Economic Council, although an announcement might not come until later this week, BEN WHITE reports.

DEMOCRATS BRACE FOR JUDICIAL CONFIRMATION ‘FREEZE’ — While Republican senators may be willing to confirm most of Biden’s Cabinet picks, Sen. DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, isn’t optimistic about GOP cooperation on judicial nominees, MARIANNE LeVINE reports.

In an interview, Durbin, who is vying for the top spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee, predicted Biden will have “very little” impact on the federal judiciary if Republicans win the runoff elections in Georgia. “If the last two years of the Obama administration were any indication, they’ll freeze them out,” he said, referring to Biden’s judicial nominees. “Hope springs eternal but I believe in history.”

FCC HEAD TO DEPART IN JANUARY — Federal Communications Commission Chairman AJIT PAI said today that he’ll step down on Jan. 20, giving Biden the opportunity to name his replacement, JOHN HENDEL reports. His departure was expected, since it’s traditional for FCC chairs to step down in deference to incoming administrations from the opposing party.

STRESSFUL JOB ALERT: Google, which is currently facing a Justice Department antitrust case, has posted a job opening for a government affairs and public policy manager charged with “Biden Administration Outreach.” Via Daybook.

More details on WestExec Advisors, where several Biden picks worked (The New York Times)

Why Anita Dunn isn’t going into the Biden administration (The Atlantic)

Biden and Trump teams have completed 79 percent of their legal transition requirements (Notre Dame’s Keough School “Presidential Transition Index” — overseen by President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff Denis McDonough)