Obama Confidantes Get Top Security Jobs

By PETER NICHOLAS and ADAM ENTOUS

WASHINGTON?President Barack Obama further tightened his control of U.S. foreign policy Wednesday by tapping a pair of trusted advisers for key national-security roles.

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President Barack Obama formally announced that Susan Rice, ambassador to the U.N., would become national security adviser in July. The position doesn't require Senate confirmation.

Mr. Obama named Susan Rice, now U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to succeed National Security Adviser Tom Donilon next month. The president also will nominate Samantha Power, a former National Security Council official, to succeed Ms. Rice at the U.N. Both women worked on then-Sen. Obama's 2008 campaign.

"This team of people has been extraordinarily dedicated to America. They have made America safer. They have made America's values live in corners of the world that are crying out for our support and our leadership," Mr. Obama said at a Rose Garden appearance.

President Barack Obama on Wednesday appointed United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to succeed Tom Donilon as White House national security adviser, in a major reshuffling of his foreign-policy and national-security team.

Ms. Rice, who has drawn fire from many Republican lawmakers for her statements about the September 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, doesn't need Senate approval for her new job. Ms. Power, who will face a confirmation hearing, won an early vote of confidence from Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.).

The moves aren't likely to alter the basic course of U.S. foreign policy, as Mr. Obama resists calls to intervene militarily in the civil war in Syria and confronts growing anxiety about China's alleged hacking of private-sector U.S. computers, among other strategic concerns, according to former administration officials and foreign policy experts.

Current and former aides say that while both women favored an international no-fly zone over Libya, they are more cautious about intervening in Syria, where potential dangers and costs are higher. At the same time, they are likely to elevate administration attention to anti-poverty campaigns, development efforts and the dangers of failed states?issues that have emerged as some of the biggest national-security threats.

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President Barack Obama will appoint U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to succeed Tom Donilon as White House national security adviser, in a surprise announcement that marks a major reshuffling of his foreign policy and national security team.

"It's symbolic of what this administration has been doing with most appointments, which has been staying on track, providing continuity and not making waves," Leon Panetta, a former defense secretary and CIA director under Mr. Obama, said in an interview. "It certainly fits a pattern that we're seeing?having people appointed who are close to the president and who are known quantities."

Added Dennis Ross, who was part of the National Security Council staff in the first term: "I wouldn't take these two appointments as being an indicator that somehow the policy is going to change. I don't think that's the case. What it reflects is the comfort level he has with the two of them."

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Samantha Power, left, Susan Rice, and Tom Donilon

In more than four years at the National Security Council, Mr. Donilon operated as a behind-the-scenes figure determined not to overshadow the president. He was a strong proponent of Mr. Obama's "pivot to Asia," an attempt to refocus U.S. energy on the opportunities and perils in that part of the world, and wind down American engagement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Ms. Rice's new post is a consolation prize of sorts. As national security adviser she will preside over a staff of about 370, coordinate U.S. foreign policy and brief Mr. Obama each day on national-security matters.

But at one point she had her eye on a more prestigious job. Ms. Rice had been in the running to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, but withdrew her name from consideration in December when her prospects of winning Senate confirmation seemed to have dimmed.

Republican lawmakers had criticized her for saying on several Sunday talk shows that the Benghazi attacks sprang from a protest over an anti-Islamic video, a contention the Obama administration later conceded was inaccurate. Ms. Rice based her comments at the time on talking points that were provided to her by the intelligence community, aides and administration officials said.

Though those comments likely derailed her bid to be secretary of state, Ms. Rice nonetheless thanked the intelligence community on Wednesday in remarks at the Rose Garden event for making "our nation more secure."

While her appointment doesn't require Senate confirmation, it has drawn the attention of Republicans lawmakers all the same. In a tweet Wednesday, Mr. McCain wrote: "Obviously, I disagree" with the Rice appointment, "but I'll make every effort to work with her on important issues."

Current and former officials say Mr. Obama sees Ms. Rice as one of his most loyal allies. The president in his comments Wednesday pointed to a close rapport, mentioning that he has played basketball with Ms. Rice's brother. "It runs in the family?throwing the occasional elbow but hitting the big shot," Mr. Obama said.

He added that Ms. Rice "knows how to bring people together around a common policy and then push it through to completion?so that we're making a difference where it matters most."

In 2011, Ms. Rice led the charge within the administration for intervening militarily in Libya, making a forceful case for a no-fly zone during meetings in the White House Situation Room. Ms. Rice has been far more cautious about any U.S. intervention in Syria, a stance in keeping with Mr. Obama's. Last year, she opposed providing arms to rebels, a position that put her at odds with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

White House officials recently said they are looking anew at arming the rebels and taking other steps to bolster the moderate opposition.

Over the years, Ms. Rice has picked up some detractors. "Susan Rice is a seasoned operator. But if she possesses any particular insights about how the U.S. should adapt itself to a rapidly changing world, she has thus far successfully concealed them," said Andrew Bacevich, a retired Army officer and history and international relations professor at Boston University.

If confirmed, Ms. Power will have come to the U.N. job through a circuitous path. Born in Ireland, she is a former journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for a book about genocide called, "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide."

She worked in Mr. Obama's U.S. Senate office and joined his first presidential campaign, where she caused an uproar by calling Mrs. Clinton a "monster" in a newspaper interview.

She resigned, but joined the National Security Council staff after Mr. Obama took office. In that role, she kept up her focus on human-rights abuses. White House officials say one of her specialties was creating "tools" to prevent genocide, including improved intelligence and "imposition of new sanctions on human rights abusers."

Many senators were in New York Wednesday to attend funeral services for the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.).

Mr. McCain in a statement Wednesday afternoon supported Ms. Power's nomination. "I believe she is well-qualified for this important position and hope the Senate will move forward on her nomination as soon as possible," he said.

Write to Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com and Adam Entous at adam.entous@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared June 6, 2013, on page A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Obama Confidantes Get Key SecurityJobs.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324798904578526913413340602.html?mod=asia_home

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