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Obama names national security team

Taps Sen. Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State

By Christina Bellantoni (Contact) and Stephen Dinan (Contact)

Originally published 12:47 p.m., December 1, 2008, updated 02:33 p.m., December 1, 2008

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CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama unveiled his national security team today, nominating Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the presidency, as secretary of state and choosing Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to stay on as Pentagon chief.

He also picked retired Gen. James L. Jones to be his national security adviser. The 6-foot-plus height and square-jawed features of the former supreme allied commander of NATO and Marine commandant recalled the late actor John Wayne.

"I am confident that this team is what we need to make a new beginning for American national security," said Mr. Obama. He only once mentioned President Bush but detailed all the ways he hopes to change America with his presidency.

All three choices did not come as a surprise and had been the subject of intense speculation for more than a week. Mr. Obama's announcement came less than a week after he chose his economic team, which apparently took precedence because of the deteriorating economy.

Many of those he chose for his national security team have had long Washington experience, leaving Mr. Obama open to charges that he was not fulfilling his campaign pledge to bring change to the nation's capital. But he made it clear that he wanted to surround himself with "strong beliefs, strong opinions."

"I will be welcoming vigorous debate," he said. "The decisions will be carried out my me after a full discussion."

But, the president-elect told a news conference at his Chicago headquarters, "The national security challenges we face are just as great at the economic challenges."

"The common thread is that our destiny is shared with the world," he said. "Now more than ever, we have a stake in what happens in the world. The time has come for new leadership, new alliances."

Mr. Obama also nominated Eric H. Holder Jr., a former Washington, D.C., judge and prosecutor, as attorney general; Susan E. Rice to be ambassador to the United Nations; and Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, a Democrat, to head the Department of Homeland Security.