President-elect Barack Obama said he will nominate his former rival, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, to be the next secretary of state and retain Robert Gates, President George W Bush’s secretary of defense, at the Pentagon as the US fights wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama also announced he has chosen Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to be homeland security secretary and retired General James L Jones, a former Marine Corps commandant, as national security adviser.
Eric Holder is the president-elect’s pick to head the Justice Department. Holder, a former deputy attorney general, would be the nation’s first black attorney general.
“The national security challenges we face are just as grave — and just as urgent — as our economic crisis. We are fighting two wars. Old conflicts remain unresolved, and newly assertive powers have put strains on the international system,” Obama, 47, said at a news conference in Chicago.
The Cabinet nominations are subject to Senate confirmation after Obama takes office in January.
The selection of outspoken and high-profile personalities such as Clinton, Gates and Jones may challenge Obama’s ability to keep foreign policy and national security moving in a common direction.
Diplomatic emphasis: Obama has pledged a greater emphasis on diplomacy over military might, a shift that might pare the growth of defence spending, especially during the current economic crisis.
The choices won praise from Senator John Warner, a Virginia Republican and former Navy secretary with three decades of experience on the Armed Services Committee.
“The triumvirate of Gates, Clinton and Jones to lead Obama’s national security team instills great confidence at home and abroad and further strengthens the growing respect for the president-elect’s courage and ability to exercise sound judgment,” Warner said in a statement.
Obama plans to send Susan Rice to the United Nations as ambassador. Rice, an adviser to Obama during his campaign, was assistant secretary for African affairs under President Bill Clinton.
Today’s announcement follows others last week outlining his top economic team as Obama seeks to assure audiences at home and abroad that his White House and Cabinet will act quickly on the global financial meltdown and on security threats overseas.
Threats overseas: Those threats came into focus last week in India, where terrorists attacked hotels, a Jewish centre and a restaurant in Mumbai, killing at least 195 people and dealing a blow to a major US ally.
“Americans cannot solve these crises without the world; and the world cannot solve them without America,” Clinton said today at the Chicago news conference.
By picking Clinton, 61, Obama is neutralising a potential political threat in four years. The two battled for the nomination through June as Clinton won some 18 million votes and thousands of die-hard supporters.
She would become the third woman to be the nation’s top diplomat and would extend the 12-year streak without a white male in the position, a statistic Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is black, often cites as an example of increasing equality at the highest levels of power.
Rice was preceded by Colin Powell, who is black, and he followed Madeleine Albright, who is white.
Primary foes: During the democratic primary, Clinton and Obama argued over who first presented a timetable for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and who had the right policy on Pakistan or Iran. Clinton criticised Obama for saying he would meet with foreign leaders of countries such as Iran without preconditions.
Obama called her “an American of tremendous stature who will have my complete confidence.”
“It’s certainly a bold choice,” Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, said when asked about the choice of Clinton as secretary of state before it became official. “She would show her brilliance in so many areas.”
After conceding the nomination race to Obama in June, Clinton moved quickly to campaign for him. The two agree on many of the biggest issues of the day. Both favour negotiating to halt North Korea’s nuclear programme, pressuring Russia on democracy, working with China while pressing for human rights and keeping the embargo on Cuba, while allowing family visits.
Both repeatedly criticised Bush for the way he handled diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, with Clinton using a reliable applause line on the campaign trail.
Obama said he would be giving Gates “a new mission as soon as I take office; responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control.”
The president-elect said Gates has restored accountability at the Pentagon and has won the confidence of military commanders and members of Congress alike.
Gates, in his own remarks, said he was “deeply honored” to continue as defense chief.
