Obama to rehire defense secretary, chooses national security adviser

CHICAGO (AP) — Seeking experience in wartime, President-elect Barack Obama intends to re-enlist Defense Secretary Robert Gates as head of the Pentagon — if only temporarily — and has chosen a retired Marine general to be White House national security adviser, officials said Tuesday.

Gates and retired Gen. James Jones would bring decades of experience to the administration of a 47-year-old commander in chief who campaigned on a pledge to redeploy combat troops in Iraq within 16 months while simultaneously ramping up the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

While Gates has accepted Obama’s appointment, it was not clear that Jones had done the same.

Obama also has also offered the post of secretary of state to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, his rival in the campaign for the White House. Officials have not yet disclosed whether she has decided to give up her seat in Congress to join the Cabinet.

Whatever Clinton’s decision, aides to the president-elect say he intends to announce members of his national security team next week, after disclosing his top economic advisers in recent days.

Gates, who has served as President George W. Bush’s defense secretary for two years, will remain in the Cabinet for some time, probably a year, according to an official familiar with discussions between him and the president-elect. His appointment would fulfill an Obama pledge to include a Republican in his Cabinet.

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 developments.

Obama’s search for intelligence officials was less clear. John Brennan, who had been considered a top pick for CIA director, withdrew his name from consideration. He cited a groundswell of criticism about his association with the Bush administration’s sanctioning of harsh interrogations of terror suspects.