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Obama picks foreign policy aide as chief of staff

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:47:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has chosen longtime trusted adviser and national security expert Denis McDonough as his fifth chief of staff.

A White House official said Obama will announce McDonough's appointment Friday in the East Room. McDonough, 43, will take over the key West Wing role from Jack Lew, Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary.

McDonough has advised Obama on foreign policy for nearly a decade and most recently served as the president's deputy national security adviser. He is highly regarded by White House staffers.

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 whose images are captured in a White House photograph seated in the situation room with Obama and other senior officials watching the raid unfold.

The White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to speak before the president's announcement, said McDonough has played a key role in all of Obama's major national security decisions in recent years, including the end of the war in Iraq, winding down the war in Afghanistan, responses to natural disasters in Haiti and Japan and repeal of the military's ban on openly gay service members.

AP sources: Denis McDonough likely for chief of staff

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:14:00 +0000

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.