Seeking experience in a time of war, US president-elect Barack Obama will keep Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in that job — if only temporarily — and he has chosen a retired Marine general to be his national security adviser, officials said on Tuesday.
Gates and retired General James Jones bring years of experience to the Cabinet of a 47-year-old commander in chief with a relatively thin foreign policy resume.
Obama, who rolled out the key components of his economic team this week, plans to announce his foreign policy brain trust after the Thanksgiving holiday.
Gates, who has served as US President George W. Bush’s defense chief for two years, will remain in the Cabinet for some time, probably a year, said an official familiar with discussions between the two men.
A Democratic official said Jones was Obama’s pick to head the National Security Council, the part of the White House structure that deals with foreign policy.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama has not authorized anybody to discuss the deliberations.
Gates, a moderate with long-standing ties to Republican administrations and the Bush family, would fulfill an Obama pledge to include a Republican in his Cabinet.
Retaining Gates would also provide stability for a stretched military fighting two wars during the changeover in administrations.
Keeping Gates might afford Obama a sort of extended transition, in which critical military issues are left in trusted hands while Obama focuses most intensely on the financial crisis.
This will be the first wartime presidential transition since 1968, when the Vietnam War was under way. There are extra concerns about security vulnerabilities during the handover.
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