Obama to fill out national security team
- Story Highlights
- President-elect Barack Obama to unveil national security team Monday morning
- News conference to be held in Chicago around 10:40 a.m. ET
- President-elect expected to name Hillary Clinton as secretary of state
- Obama to keep Robert Gates as defense secretary, sources say
- Next Article in Politics »
Read
VIDEO
(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama will name Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state as he unveils his national security team at an event Monday morning, two officials said.
Sen. Hillary Clinton will be nominated to be Barack Obama's secretary of state, sources say.
Obama also is expected to finally confirm that he is keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his current post, and to name retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones as his national security adviser at the White House, the officials said.
Those close to Clinton say the New York senator is "excited" about the job and is taking on the position out of a sense of duty.
In assuming this new post, Clinton will have some control of her staffing, like picking the assistant secretaries, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
Clinton, Obama's former rival for the Democratic nomination, also has been told by the Obama team that they will help her fundraise in the next 60 days to help clear her campaign debt, which is about $6.5 million, the sources said.
Former President Bill Clinton is not expected to be at the State Department announcement.
The Obama transition team will announce the full team at a news conference in Chicago, Illinois, around 10:40 a.m. ET. CNN and CNN.com will carry the event live.
Don't Miss
Two sources close to the transition said Obama will nominate Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador; Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary; and Eric Holder as attorney general.
Last week, Obama pushed back against criticism that his Cabinet picks failed to reflect the change he called for during the election.
"What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking. But understand ... the vision for change comes first and foremost ... from me. That's my job," he said.
Amy Walter, editor-in-chief of National Journal's "The Hotline," said Sunday that there's the "vision and there's the managing, which is who is getting out front, who is actually setting the pace. I think you'll see Obama keeping his team in line, keeping them on the same page."
All of the selections are people who have been mentioned often during weeks of fevered speculation about the likely nominees. Retiring Republican Sen. John Warner, a veteran member of the Armed Services Committee, released a statement Saturday night praising all three nominees, even before they had been officially announced at Monday's planned rollout. 
Watch why some think Gates shouldn't stay »
"The triumvirate of Gates, Clinton and Jones to lead Obama's 'national security team' instills great confidence at home and abroad; and, further strengthens the growing respect for the President-elect's courage and ability to exercise sound judgment in selecting the 'best and the brightest' to implement our nation's security policies," Warner said.
To some, the choice demonstrates bipartisanship and conveys that Obama has the self-confidence in his leadership abilities to keep one of the more widely respected members of the Bush administration.
"We've got confidence, continuity, and I still think the mission to get out of [Iraq] as soon as possible will be accomplished. So I think it's a great choice," Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel told CNN's "Larry King Live" last week.
Others say keeping Gates could delay the change that Obama promised during his campaign, because it could lead to potential policy conflicts over missile defense funding and a speedy Iraq pullout.
"If we don't have good civilian personnel alongside our good military personnel, we're not going to reform. It can't happen. You need the right people to make it work," former Pentagon comptroller Dov Zakheim said.
The president-elect has made no secret of his interest in having divergent views within his Cabinet, and Gates has served in various national security roles under Republican presidents, including as CIA director during former President George H.W. Bush's administration.
As for Clinton, some observers have raised concerns about her husband and suggested that the former president's international business dealings, global foundation and penchant for going off script could present a significant obstacle for the incoming commander-in-chief.
"These are issues that I'm sure are being discussed, and they will have to be worked out, and it's legitimate to ask these questions," said James Carville, a former aide to the Clintons and CNN contributor.
Obama's transition team was given access to Bill Clinton's finances and post-presidential dealings, sources said. As part of the early vetting process, the team looked for any negative information that could jeopardize the prospect of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
A particular issue of concern, observers said, was the donor list of Bill Clinton's global foundation, which might show connections to international figures who push policies that could conflict with those of the new Obama administration.
Since exiting the Oval Office eight years ago, Clinton has reportedly raised more than $500 million for the foundation, a significant portion of which financed the construction of his presidential library. The foundation has also doled out millions for AIDS relief in Africa and other charitable causes around the world.
Amid repeated criticism from Sen. Clinton's primary opponents, Bill Clinton would not reveal the extent of the foundation's donor list earlier this year. But The New York Times has reported the list includes some foreign governments, including members of the Saudi royal family, the king of Morocco, a fund connected to the United Arab Emirates, and the governments of Kuwait and Qatar.
The former president has also reportedly solicited funds from international business figures connected to human rights abuses that his wife has criticized, including the governments of Kazakhstan and China.
During the New York senator's White House bid, critics repeatedly said that foreign governments and business executives could try to exert influence through donations to the foundation, which prompted a pledge from the former president to publicly disclose all future donors.
CNN's Ed Henry, Ed Hornick and Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.
All About Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Robert Gates • Bill Clinton
From the Blogs: 
Sit tight, we're getting to the good stuff
| Most Viewed | Most Emailed |
- 1 Venice neck-deep in flood water
- 2 Obama to roll out security team
- 3 Rice: Pakistan must help on Mumbai
- 4 PAD threaten to up airport protest
- 5 Militants target NATO supplies
- 6 Hijacked arms ship deal agreed
- 7 Laura Bush talks about her future
- 8 Palin back on the campaign trail
- 9 Ryanair in new bid for Aer Lingus
- 10 Commentary: A team of centrists
- 1 7 ways to help your baby fall asleep
- 2 Five ways to avoid germs while traveling
- 3 Wal-Mart death preventable, union says
- 4 729 cats and the people they own
- 5 'Twilight': Where does the...
- 6 America's dazzling national parks
- 7 FDA finds more traces of melamine in...
- 8 Obama inauguration could take on...
- 9 Obama to roll out national security...
- 10 Taj Mahal hotel chairman: We had warning
วันนี้ นายให้ไปฟังเรื่องเกี่ยวกับศาสนา จริยธรรมและวินัย ที่สโมสรของผู้รักษาความสงบสุขของบ้านเมือง เป็นสนามกีฬาที่เยี่ยมยอดจริงๆ มิน่าถึงมีความเข้มแข็งอาจอง ยิ่งในยุคอินเตอรเนทไร้พรมแดนดูมีความคิดที่เป็นสากลเป็นอันมาก รักษาปัญหาความมั่นคงชายแดนเป็นหลักจริงๆ เรื่องการเมืองความมั่นคงภายในไม่อยากยุ่ง ให้พวกนักการเมืองแก้ปัญหาเอาเอง
การ เป็นข้าราชการโดยมรรยาทห้ามฝักใฝ่ฝ่ายใด เพราะใครๆต้องคาดหวังว่าการเมืองแย่ขนาดไหนก็ยังมีข้าราชการเป็นที่พึ่งสุด ท้าย เพราะฉะนั้น ข้าราชการจึงรักทุกฝ่ายที่เป็นประชาชน ยกเว้นพวกที่ทำผิดกฏหมาย
many religions in our world still need people to live in peace with high morality and can regulate themselves to support flagile socialization under propagunda...but how strength of our religion leaders and change agent spiritual lead people to be appropriate calmful communities???...many leaders in religion leaders seminar try to seek new process and strategic to reach all free soul of public...but still be under dark power???love and merrit are only blind way????under deepen benefit of sponsors for strange situation still feed food and fund with high cash for stand secret status???horror business on other damage...public damage???who loosed...who lossed???next young generation still have thier mother land???lossed all???
day of white spiritual....of sugar sugar...
No comments:
Post a Comment