SALON

Thursday, Jan 17, 2013 12:14 PM UTC

AP sources: Denis McDonough likely for chief of staff

He's currently a national security adviser

By

Topics: From the Wires, Chief of staff, Denis McDonough, White House, President Obama, ,

AP sources: Denis McDonough likely for chief of staffFILE - In this March 6, 2011 file photo, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough speaks at an interfaith forum at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Sterling, Va. People familiar with White House thinking say President Barack Obama is likely to name top national security aide Denis McDonough as his next chief of staff, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013.(AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File) (Credit: AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is likely to name Denis McDonough, one of his closest national security advisers, as his next chief of staff, according to people familiar with the White House thinking.

However, White House officials say a final decision has not been made.

In tapping McDonough, Obama would be relying on an inner circle ally for the key West Wing post. McDonough, 43, currently serves as the president’s deputy national security adviser and is highly regarded by Obama and White House staffers.

McDonough would replace current White House chief of staff Jack Lew, the president’s nominee for treasury secretary.

The people familiar with the White House thinking spoke on condition of anonymity because there has been no announcement an appointment.

Before his tenure in the White House, McDonough served as Obama’s main adviser on foreign policy issues during the 2008 presidential campaign. Earlier, he worked as a foreign policy specialist in Congress, including as a senior foreign policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

McDonough would be Obama’s fifth chief of staff. Rahm Emanuel, William Daly and Pete Rouse, as interim chief of staff, preceded Lew in the job.

If Obama chooses McDonough it will likely be less because of his national security credentials and more because of McDonough’s highly regarded status within the White House.

“He’s easy to work with and focused on getting the job done for the boss, hammering out the best policy possible given the political realities,” said Doug Hattaway, a Democratic consultant who worked with McDonough in the Senate.

McDonough’s place in Obama’s inner circle was illustrated during the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011. He is among those captured in a White House photograph seated in the situation room with Obama and other senior officials watching the raid unfold.

McDonough grew up in Minnesota, one of 11 children. Two of his brothers are priests. He is a graduate of St. John’s University in Minnesota and received his master’s degree from Georgetown University.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

More By Julie Pace And Ken Thomas.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 1 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
193 points194 points | 7 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
160 points161 points | 25 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
68 points69 points | 15 comments
vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
111 points112 points | 48 comments
vote
Doug Henwood: Capitalism Thrives on Class Exploitation
45 points46 points | 4 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations