BREAKING — Gen. James Jones is resigning as President Obama’s national security adviser. Tom Donilon, the deputy national security adviser, will replace him, a senior administration official tells POLITICO.
Jones’s resignation will take effect in two weeks. Obama will make an announcement in the Rose Garden Friday afternoon. — Glenn Thrush and Carol E. Lee (10:05 a.m.)
http://www.politico.com/politico44/
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/donilon-to-replace-jones-as-national-security-adviser/
But the schedule was accelerated, and in recent weeks White House staff had been increasingly critical of General Jones for statements that he apparently made to Bob Woodward, the author of “Obama’s Wars,” an account of the internal decision making on policy Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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.
Thanks, Starwise, for the article.
“Obama Wars”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/22/politics/washingtonpost/main6889641.shtml
Tensions often turned personal. National security adviser James L. Jones privately referred to Obama’s political aides as “the water bugs,” the “Politburo,” the “Mafia,” or the “campaign set.” Petraeus, who felt shut out by the new administration, told an aide that he considered the president’s senior adviser David Axelrod to be “a complete spin doctor.”
During a flight in May, after a glass of wine, Petraeus told his own staffers that the administration was “[expletive] with the wrong guy.” Gates was tempted to walk out of an Oval Office meeting after being offended by comments made by deputy national security adviser Thomas E. Donilon about a general not named in the book.
Suspicion lingered among some from the 2008 presidential campaign as well. When Obama floated the idea of naming Clinton to a high-profile post, Axelrod asked him, “How could you trust Hillary?”
Hmmm Two week notice? Not telegraphed a head of time? Something IS going on!
I heard this on Fox - recall that Jones was quoted in Woodward’s book calling Axelrod the ultimate “spindoctor.”
Goodbye, General Jones.