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Jones Out as National Security Advisor
National Security Adviser James L. Jones will resign his post and be replaced by his deputy, Thomas E. Donilon, effective immediately, senior administration officials said Friday.What brought this on? Are those bus-tire tracks on Gen. Jones' back? Although Jones's departure has been expected, it comes at a delicate time for President Obama as he prepares for an important review of his Afghanistan strategy in December. Obama is scheduled to announce the decision at 1 p.m. EDT in the White House Rose Garden. A retired Marine general, Jones brought decades of national security experience to the post and military credibility to an administration whose senior civilian members had never served in uniform. He expanded the National Security Council to include agencies responsible for American energy, economic and environmental policy, believing that those issues would play a far larger role in shaping U.S. defense and diplomatic strategy in the decades to come. Knucklehead. National Security is a hard enough job w/o adding a bunch of other things. But Jones, a towering if aloof figure, often had trouble fitting into a National Security Council culture dominated by several hard-charging veterans of Obama's campaign who have known the president for years. His condition for initially taking the job - that he would be the last one to see Obama on the most pressing national security issues of the day - was often unmet. No surprise there, and it betrays him as a political light-weight. RTWT for early commentary on his replacement, Mr. Donilon. Posted by: Free Radical 2010-10-08 |
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