Who is Tom Donilon? (New NSA replacing Jim Jones served under Clinton and Carter)

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from the

NYT: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/donilon-to-replace-jones-as-national-security-adviser/

Mr. Donilon began as young political operative for President Jimmy Carter and later was chief of staff for Secretary of State Warren Christopher in the Clinton administration. He has long operated in the area between politics and national security. He coached Mr. Obama on foreign policy for his debates during the 2008 presidential campaign.

As deputy national security adviser, he has urged what he calls a “re-balancing” of American foreign policy to rapidly disengage American forces in Iraq and to focus more on China, Iran and other emerging challenges. In the Afghanistan-Pakistan review, he argued that the United States could not engage in what he termed “endless war,” and has strongly defended Mr. Obama’s decision to declare that troops will begin leaving Afghanistan next summer


from HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/08/tom-donilon-disaster-national-security-advisor_n_755708.html

Outgoing National Security Adviser Jim Jones once disparaged his replacement and current deputy, Thomas Donilon, for his lack of overseas experience, telling him that as a result: You have no credibility with the military, according to Bob Woodward's Obama's Wars . . . Gates called him a 'disaster'.


All reasons to be optimistic about this appointment. Is the President positioning himself to eventually draw down troops in Afghanistan as promised?

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