Friday, December 5, 2008

Brzezinski: 'It's A Very Strong Team'

(Credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

Atlantic Media Political Director Ronald Brownstein spoke with former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski for today's edition of "National Journal On Air." During the course of their conversation, Brzezinski touched on the incoming foreign policy team, controlling weapons of mass destruction and Obama's global popularity.

Related: Carter Official Jody Powell Rates Clinton Pick

NJ: President-elect Obama this week named the key members of his national security team: Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates and General Jim Jones. What was your assessment of the team he pulled together?

Brzezinski: I think it's a very strong team in terms of individual capabilities and personal experience. Each one adds an important dimension to our ability to handle foreign affairs. But there is, I think, a potential problem, namely, because they're such strong individuals there could be some problems with coordination, especially since in some respects both the new secretary of State and the retained secretary of Defense have had different perspectives in foreign policy issues than the president-elect. So a great deal depends on the degree to which the president, working through the national security adviser, General Jones, can impose a sense of direction, can impose central strategic control over the shaping of foreign policy.

NJ: You know, one thing that's interesting about this team is that unlike many presidents, he has not chosen long-time confidantes for any of these three positions. I mean, none of these three are people that he has spent enormous time with over the years or were in the foxhole with him, as it were, in the campaign. Is that a challenge?

Brzezinski: Well, first of all it's understandable, because he hasn't been dealing with foreign affairs. His associates have not been really concerned with foreign affairs. His political associates have been concerned with his political career in Illinois and then nationally, and his focus has been largely on domestic issues. But it is a problem. Sure, it is a problem, and that's why he compensates for it by having strong individuals who presume to know something about these subjects and a very strong national security adviser in our former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant who should be able to crack the whip.

Read the complete interview here.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Bloggers Split On National Security Team

By MARY GILBERT

President-elect Barack Obama presented his new foreign policy team at a press conference this morning. Most of his selections had been anticipated for the last week or so, but the blogs are abuzz with thoughts on what these picks mean for Obama's approach to international issues.

• Ben Smith notes that choosing Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State "says as much about Obama's strategic judgment and his temperament as anything else he's done. It says that he's confident he can control the Clintons."
• The American Spectator's Philip Klein points out the differences between Obama and Clinton on foreign policy in the primary race. "One of two things happened" since then, he speculates. "Either Clinton has embraced Obama's vision for fundamental change, or Obama has succumbed to 'conventional Washington thinking.'"
• Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin offers her "ode" to Clinton on the eve of "Hillmas."



• Matthew Yglesias reveals that "folks I know who work on UN issues were thrilled" with Obama's selection of Susan Rice as U.S. ambassador to the world body. "Rice has a longstanding relationship with the President-Elect and sending a close adviser to Turtle Bay signals an intention to upgrade the priority given to that suite of issues. It also makes it much more likely that our UN Ambassador will be able to get the White House's attention than was the case in the Bush years."



• But Claudia Rosett feels that elevating Rice's post to the Cabinet level "is a trainwreck waiting to happen -- the main question being whether, when the train goes off the rails, Rice will be trying to drive the UN engine, or hanging on for dear life to the caboose."



• Steve Clemons thinks that Clinton is "going to push women's rights, democracy, human rights, poverty reduction and the like -- but I think she is going to be party to a realist-tilting, crafty Obama-led, Bob Gates-designed, Clinton-out-front process to get a strategic shift in U.S. foreign policy," and he "applaud[s] that." Previously, Clemons laid out "the kind of leaps" he believes Gates wants to make in the Middle East and projected that "National Security Advisor-to-be Jim Jones is on the same page as Gates -- and the two of them will constitute a considerably strong axis of power inside the Obama White House."



• Firedoglake's Christy Hardin Smith sums up the picks: "Gates at DOD, anchors the Iraq mess as Bush's legacy; Jones as national security advisor holds his own with substantial experience; and Clinton at State gives instant policy cache." Acknowledging that she does not expect to agree with all of the policies this group puts forth, she concludes: "But to have a president who is actively engaged, and intellectually sure enough to staff up with strong personalities who can challenge each other -- and him? Good lord, that's a nice change of pace."



• TalkLeft's Jeralyn also believes the new slate is "a welcome change from the Bush Administration -- and in thinking about who these appointees would be had" John McCain "been elected, I'll say we did okay with this team."

Monday, December 1, 2008

Obama Stresses Pragmatism Of Security Appointees

By AMY HARDER

Following in the wake of last week's Mumbai terrorist attacks, President-elect Barack Obama announced his national security team at a press conference this morning in Chicago. With unrest between India and Pakistan rising over the weekend, Obama addressed the situation briefly but declined to comment further when pressed by a reporter.

"This is one of those times that I reiterate that there is one president at a time," the president-elect said. "We will be engaged in delicate diplomacy in the next several days and weeks. It would be inappropriate for me to comment, but what I can so unequivocally is that both myself and the team that stands beside are absolutely committed eliminating the threat of terrorism."

That team includes several appointments that had been rumored for weeks -- Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as Homeland Security Department secretary, Obama's campaign foreign policy adviser Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations and Gen. Jim Jones as national security adviser.

After announcing Clinton as his secretary of State, Obama was asked about "belittling" her international experience while on the campaign trial. "This is fun for the press to try to stir up whatever quotes were formed over the course of the campaign," Obama quipped in response. "If you look at statements that [Clinton] and I have made outside of the heat of the campaign, we share a view that America has to be safe and secure." He added that in making his decision, he never experienced a "light bulb moment"; rather, once their primary battle was over, he started thinking of ways they could work together.

Continue reading Obama Stresses Pragmatism Of Security Appointees.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Clinton, Holder, Gates Officially Announced

(Credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

The Obama-Biden transition team this morning made official several key appointments, confirming reports that the president-elect was seeking Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State, Eric Holder for attorney general and Robert Gates as secretary of Defense.

The team also confirmed that Arizona governor -- and early Obama endorser -- Janet Napolitano was Obama's pick for DHS chief, and named retired Gen. Jim Jones as national security adviser and Susan Rice as ambassador to the U.N. Combined with previously announced names, today's rollout brings the total number of announced picks from the Obama team to 42.

Check back shortly for coverage and video of Obama's press conference unveiling his national security team.

Complete release available after the jump.

Continue reading Clinton, Holder, Gates Officially Announced.