Gates and Clinton Posts Show Obama 'Secure' With Strong Leaders
By Ken Fireman and Tony Capaccio
Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama's national-security team is shaping up as a collection of strong figures, with no one dominant. His biggest challenge may be to keep them working in harmony.
With Senator Hillary Clinton in line to be secretary of state, former Marine Corps Commandant James L. Jones likely to be national security adviser and Robert Gates staying as defense secretary, Obama will have three high-powered officials at the heart of his administration.
``It's a credit to Obama that he wants people like this in his administration,'' said Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at Washington's Center for American Progress, which supports the Democratic Party. ``It shows that he's secure enough in his own skin that he's willing to take them on.''
While the possibility exists of friction among three figures with such strong personalities, the new president has made it clear that he will set the national-security agenda, said Korb, who was a campaign adviser for Obama and a former assistant defense secretary under President Ronald Reagan.
Gates, 65, will remain at the Pentagon under Obama and Jones is expected to be named White House national security adviser, according to people familiar with the transition process who requested anonymity.
Gates was appointed as secretary two years ago by President George W. Bush, a Republican, and has served mostly under other Republicans in national security positions during his four- decade government career. Obama, a Democrat, has pledged to appoint at least one Republican to his Cabinet.
Official No Comment
Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell and Obama transition spokeswoman Brooke Anderson declined to comment. Politico and ABC News reported yesterday that Gates would stay on.
Citing unidentified Democrats, Politico said James Steinberg will be named deputy secretary of state, Susan Rice will be named as ambassador to the United Nations and retired Navy Admiral Dennis Blair will be tapped as director of national intelligence. Blair formerly commanded U.S. forces in the Pacific.
Steinberg, 55, served as deputy national security adviser under President Bill Clinton, and Rice, 44, was assistant secretary of state for African affairs during that administration. She was a national security adviser to Obama during his presidential campaign and isn't related to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Tom Donilon, 53, is the top candidate to be Jones's deputy, the officials told Politico. He was chief of staff at the State Department under President Clinton.
Commanding Role
Jones, 64, insisted on what Politico described as a commanding role as head of the National Security Council, the officials said.
``If confirmed, this is another indication of the world- class national security and foreign policy team emerging in the Obama administration,'' retired Army General Barry McCaffrey said last week.
McCaffrey said Jones is ``a figure of tremendous standing in the international community'' and is highly regarded in the military. ``He would have the stature to get realistic policy options in front of the president.''
Another retired Army general, Jack Keane, called the choice ``an extraordinary selection'' because of Jones's experience and stature.
The Gates reappointment will also be popular with senior military officers, said Michael O'Hanlon, a national-security analyst at Washington's Brookings Institution.
Insistence on Accountability
``He is respected even among those who have cause to fear him'' because of his insistence on accountability, O'Hanlon said of Gates.
Gates fired Army Secretary Francis Harvey and the commanding general of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2007 over revelations of deficiencies in outpatient care for wounded soldiers at the facility in Washington.
Earlier this year, Gates fired Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley and the service's secretary, Michael Wynne, over problems in the handling and storage of nuclear weapons.
Gates has steered a middle course on Iraq, a conflict Obama opposed before it started and often criticized during the campaign as a diversion from more serious problems such as Afghanistan.
Shortly before being named to head the Pentagon in late 2006, Gates was a member of a bipartisan panel that eventually recommended a drawdown in U.S. forces. Nonetheless, as defense secretary he implemented Bush's decision to add 30,000 troops.
Gates on Iraq
More recently, as security conditions in Iraq have improved and most of the additional military personnel have returned home, Gates has expressed hopes for deeper drawdowns. During the campaign, Obama advocated removing all U.S. combat forces within 16 months.
O'Hanlon said Iraq may prove to be a test of whether Obama and Gates are compatible.
Gates is ``committed to the mission succeeding,'' O'Hanlon said. ``He would only go along with a rapid withdrawal if he thought it had a good chance of working.''
Gates spent most of his government career in the Central Intelligence Agency, rising from a staff analyst job to head the agency from 1991 to 1993. He was deputy national security adviser to President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1991.
Before joining the Bush administration, Gates was president of Texas A&M University at College Station from 2002 to 2006.
NATO, Marines
Jones served as supreme commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces from 2002 to 2006 and commandant of the Marine Corps from 1999 to 2002. After leaving the NATO post, he was named last year as special U.S. envoy to the Middle East.
Jones is currently the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy, which he founded last year. It is primarily concerned with energy security, an issue Obama discussed during the campaign.
The national security adviser serves the president as an in-house broker, seeking to coordinate the sometimes conflicting policy views of top administration officials such as the secretaries of state and defense.
In some previous administrations, such as those of Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, the national security adviser became a rival to the secretary of state in establishing foreign policy.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Fireman in Washington at kfireman1@bloomberg.netAnthony Capaccio at acapaccio@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 26, 2008 00:01 EST |
