Obama Speaks on Resignation of Jim Jones Video

Tom Donilon to Replace James Jones

National Security Adviser James Jones is resigning. His deputy, Tom Donilon, is replacing him. Obama is making the announcement at 1 pm eastern. Look for a live stream at WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Obama Sending 1,200 Guard Troops to Border

Read James Jones and John Brennan's border letter here.

Homeland Security officials said that the troops would provide support to law enforcement officers already working along the border by helping observe and monitor traffic between official crossing points, and would help analyze trafficking patterns in hopes of intercepting illegal drug shipments. They performed similar tasks in an earlier deployment along the border from 2006 to 2008, when they also assisted with road and fence construction. The troops have not been involved directly in intercepting border crossers. NYT

McCain wants 6,000.

Gates Memo Urges Military Plan for Iran if All Else Fails

My gut tells me If we ever enter into war with Iran, even though our military is the strongest, it will wipe out millions of people, not just in Iran. It will lead to the biggest war ever on this planet. I hope the smart people are doing everything they can to prevent any kind of military action with Iran.

This story will no doubt antagonize the republicans, who are always itching for military action.

Several officials said the highly classified analysis, written in January to President Obama’s national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, came in the midst of an intensifying effort inside the Pentagon, the White House and the intelligence agencies to develop new options for Mr. Obama. They include a set of military alternatives, still under development, to be considered should diplomacy and sanctions fail to force Iran to change course.

Officials familiar with the memo’s contents would describe only portions dealing with strategy and policy, and not sections that apparently dealt with secret operations against Iran, or how to deal with Persian Gulf allies. More at the NYT

I found this at the NYT. It is written by the paper's public editor and it says that the New York Times abuses anonymous sources. 100% agreed. In the case of the secret memo story, "officials familiar with the memo's contents" are used without naming the officials. The "officials familiar with the memo's contents" likely have an agenda--they describe the memo as a "wake up call"--and they are manipulating the media for their purposes:

One senior official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the memo, described the document as “a wake-up call.” But White House officials dispute that view, insisting that for 15 months they had been conducting detailed planning for many possible outcomes regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

Another Update: Gates says the "officials familiar with the memo's contents" were wrong, which sort of proves that the NYT is abusing anonymous sources, as noted below. The "officials familiar with the memo's contents" are probably against Obama.

Responding to a report in the New York Times, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday said the sources who had described his January classified memo on U.S. Iran strategy had "mischaracterized its purpose and content."

"The New York Times sources who revealed my January memo to the National Security Advisor mischaracterized its purpose and content," Gates said in a statement Sunday.

"With the Administration's pivot to a pressure track on Iran earlier this year, the memo identified next steps in our defense planning process where further interagency discussion and policy decisions would be needed in the months and weeks ahead," Gates said.

"The memo was not intended as a 'wake up call' or received as such by the President's national security team," he continued. "Rather, it presented a number of questions and proposals intended to contribute to an orderly and timely decision making process." Politico

McCain Says Jim Jones Was Wrong in Iraq

Thousands of troops are at stake and McCain and the war mongers have made Afghanistan a political thing. By publicly saying more troops is the only way in Afghanistan, McChrystal has over stepped his bounds.
McCain, who agrees with McChrystal, thinks he's right as always. The surge! The surge! The surge! McCain may be right. But he's not the president. McCain then goes on to say Jim Jones was wrong on Iraq. Nice dig. What's his point? That Jones is always wrong? On Sunday's Face the Nation, Jones said that the president should be presented with options on Afghanistan.

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Iran Allows U.N. Inspections of its Nuclear Plant

It would appear that the path of diplomacy is working out well. What I'm wondering is if the Iranian people will pressure Ahmadinejad to stop acting like a jerk.

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The backstory:

On Tuesday evening in New York, top officials of the world nuclear watchdog agency approached two of President Obama’s senior advisers to deliver the news: Iran had just sent a cryptic letter describing a small “pilot” nuclear facility that the country had never before declared.

The Americans were surprised by the letter, but they were angry about what it did not say. American intelligence had come across the hidden tunnel complex years earlier, and the advisers believed the situation was far more ominous than the Iranians were letting on.

That night, huddled in a hotel room in the Waldorf-Astoria until well into the early hours, five of Mr. Obama’s closest national security advisers, in New York for the administration’s first United Nations General Assembly, went back and forth on what they would advise their boss when they took him the news in the morning. A few hours later, in a different hotel room, they met with Mr. Obama and his senior national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, to talk strategy. Read more at NYT

Bill Clinton on Meet the Press tomorrow:

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Obama Rethinking Afghanistan Strategy

Yesterday Bob Woodward's story about Stanley McChrystal's counterinsurgency plan for Afghanistan, based on a "leaked" document, wasn't anything that hasn't already been said before, though there are more specifics, and it actually says that "doubling down" isn't going to help matters:

Success is achievable, but it will not be attained simply by trying harder of "doubling down" on the previous strategy. Additional resources are required, but focusing on force or resource requirements misses the point entirely. The key take away from this assessment is the urgent need for a significant change to our strategy and the way that we think and operation."

Read the "leaked" document here:
My first hunch was that the White House leaked the document. But one these folks could've had a hand in "leaking" the unclassified document. Politico is playing it like a whodunit today:

White House officials greeted the leak with a grimace, but none suggested they’d begin a witch hunt for the leaker. Woodward is famous for his access to the principals themselves — he recently traveled to Afghanistan with National Security Adviser James Jones — and leak hunters couldn’t expect with confidence that they’d find themselves disciplining just an undisciplined junior staffer.

But inside the White House and out, the leak touched off another familiar Washington ritual: speculation about the leaker’s identity and motives. Politico

Politico also says it could've been leaked by someone seeking fame:

“It’s most likely someone who has or is cultivating a personal relationship with Bob Woodward and positioning himself to look good in Woodward’s next book,” said Matt Bennett, vice president at the Democratic-leaning think tank Third Way, echoing the views of many inside government and out. The history of Woodward sources portrayed as heroes is long, including the likes of Colin Powell and, for a time, George W. Bush. But Woodward’s take on the Bush administration also changed dramatically with time, and some portrayed positively in his early books were savaged in the later ones.

The Washington Post concluded that Obama is rethinking the strategy:

Instead of debating whether to give McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, more troops, the discussion in the White House is now focused on whether, after eight years of war, the United States should vastly expand counterinsurgency efforts along the lines he has proposed -- which involve an intensive program to improve security and governance in key population centers -- or whether it should begin shifting its approach away from such initiatives and simply target leaders of terrorist groups who try to return to Afghanistan....
The principal game-changer, in the view of White House officials, was Afghanistan's presidential election last month, which was compromised by fraud, much of it in support of President Hamid Karzai. Although the results have not been certified, he almost certainly will remain in office, but under a cloud of illegitimacy that could complicate U.S. efforts to promote good governance.
WaPo

Unnamed sources (I hate when the media does that) are getting antsy:

But Obama's deliberative pace -- he has held only one meeting of his top national security advisers to discuss McChrystal's report so far -- is a source of growing consternation within the military. "Either accept the assessment or correct it, or let's have a discussion," one Pentagon official said. "Will you read it and tell us what you think?" Within the military, this official said, "there is a frustration. A significant frustration. A serious frustration."

Still, it looks like we're going to be in Afghanistan one way or another. In this recent interview with Al Jazeera, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he disagrees with McChrystal on the troop levels (at 7:22 mark). He worries that the U.S. could be seen as occupiers. But Gates also says that withdrawal from Afghanistan is out of the question:

Obama Wants to Know: What's Secret and What's Not

Obama has ordered a review of what documents are top secret and what can be declassified. His memo went out to national security adviser James Jones, Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano.

Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, a private group that gathers and publishes declassified government documents and lobbies for more open government, applauded the memo.
"Sure, we could have hoped for the president to make decisions today," Blanton said, "but this is warp speed in bureaucratic terms." He noted that former President Bill Clinton took three years to revise the executive order on classification.
Blanton said the tasks assigned to the two studies and language in the memo make clear "the president's gut is in the right place. He's opting for transparency. This is about as clear a signal as you can get in a bureaucratic environment."
Among the tasks Obama set for Jones' study was to recommend whether to set up a National Declassification Center where officials from various agencies could work together on declassification of documents. Currently, there is a backlog of 51 million pages, scheduled for automatic declassification on Dec. 31, that have not been completely reviewed for release because the material had to be referred to as many as 10 different agencies for evaluation.
Obama also asked Jones to recommend whether to restore Clinton's "presumption against classification," that would bar classifying documents when there is significant doubt about the need for it. Bush eliminated that presumption Read the whole thing at AP

Details Emerge on Navy Seal Rescue

President Obama dispatched two separate teams of Navy commandos to carry out last week's rescue of a merchant ship captain held hostage by Somali pirates but left the operational details and rules of engagement to military commanders, National Security Adviser James. L. Jones said Tuesday.

"I can tell you from a White House and presidential standpoint, there was no conflict, no gnashing of teeth, or excessive influence in trying to manage this thing," Mr. Jones, a retired Marine Corps four-star general, told The Washington Times in an interview.

He and other military officials gave the most detailed account to date of how Navy SEAL forces were dispatched - first from a base in Africa and later from the United States - to carry out the mission, and how Pentagon officials communicated with the White House. They sought to dispel Internet reports that the military was delayed from taking action by indecision inside the White House.

"I don't recognize" the information being circulated on the Internet, Mr. Jones said.
....
"This was, from my perspective, a textbook operation," Mr. Jones said in the interview. "There were two things [the president] was asked to approve and he did. And the military executed flawlessly."
....
Contrary to the critical report, the president did not reject two proposed rescue attempts by U.S. forces prior to the sniper attack, Mr. Jones said.
Read the rest at the Wash Times

Obama May Find Out Why Chinese Dropped Their Drawers

A few days ago, Chinese ships harassed the Impeccable, a U.S. ship. The Chinese ship maneuvered close to the Impeccable and the Chinese crew oddly dropped their drawers, which led the U.S. to shoot a fire hose at the ship.

AP: Amid tensions between China and the U.S. over a confrontation at sea, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang (yahng jay-uh-CHUR') Jiechi is paying a visit to the White House.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs said he expects the dispute will be discussed when Yang meets later Thursday with President Barack Obama, but will not dominate the conversation. Yang also is expected to meet with Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, a former U.S. Marine Corps general.

Obama's Basketball Playing Cabinet

From The Swamp:

SI has the "who's who'' of the incoming administration's starting lineup:

Arne Duncan Secretary of Education 6'5" Co-captain at Harvard in the mid '80's/played in USBL and Australia

Eric Holder Attorney General 6'2" Columbia freshman team/co-captain of Stuyvesant High (NYC)

Ret. Gen. James Jones Natl. Security Adviser 6'5" Frontcourt reserve at Georgetown 1963-65

Susan Rice Ambassador to U.N. 5'3" Point guard at National Cathedral school (D.C.)/played at Oxford

Timothy Geithner Treasury Secretary Played in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York league

Sports Illustrated's Audacity of Hoops:

Obama remains something short of the total hoops package. He can't dunk. He doesn't have a nickname. His usual getup of black sweatpants and gray T-shirt (call it the Police Academy Trainee look) isn't likely to set a trend. But he does stick his nose in it. In Kuwait last July he didn't merely visit U.S. troops, he swished a three for them -- first try, no warmup. And as president he'll keep the counsel of a roster's worth of former ballplayers, in and out of his Cabinet, many better at the game than he.

Obama Announces National Security Team - Video

Obama connects the dots between national security and the economy and announces Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, retired Marine General James Jones as national security adviser, Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary and Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations. He says he wants strong opinions and dissent so there's no group think. 

Who Is James Jones?

Who is James Jones?
Here's an interesting tidbit, Condi Rice asked him to be deputy secretary of state and he declined.
He's served on the board of Boeing and was skeptical about going to war in Iraq.
Jones was rumored to be Obama's vice presidential choice.
Jones grew up in France.

NYT: James L. Jones, a retired four-star general, was among a mostly Republican crowd watching a presidential debate in October when Barack Obama casually mentioned that he got a lot of his advice on foreign policy from General Jones.

“Explain yourself!” some of the Republicans demanded, as General Jones later recalled it.

He did not. A 6-foot-5 Marine Corps commandant with the looks of John Wayne, General Jones is not given to talking about his political bent, be it Republican or Democrat. And yet, he is Mr. Obama’s choice for national security adviser, a job that will make him the main foreign policy sounding board and sage to a president with relatively little foreign policy experience.

The selection of General Jones will elevate another foreign policy moderate to a team that will include Robert M. Gates, a carry-over from the Bush administration, as defense secretary and Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state. By bringing a military man to the White House, Mr. Obama may be trying to cement an early bond with military leaders who regard him with some uneasiness, particularly over his call for rapid troop reductions in Iraq.
But General Jones will also be expected to mediate between rivals, particularly in dealing with Mr. Gates, who has his own power base at the Pentagon, and with Mrs. Clinton, who has told friends that she does not expect the national security adviser to stand between her and the president. Read the rest.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Stay On

Robert Gates has agreed to stay and Hillary will be announced as secretary of state next week, according to Politico:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to stay on under President-elect Barack Obama, according to officials in both parties. Obama plans to announce a national-security team early next week that includes Gates at the Pentagon and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as secretary of state, officials said.

Retired Marine Gen. James Jones, former Marine commandant and commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, will be named national security adviser, the officials said.

The national security adviser heads the National Security Council, which is the part of the White House structure that deals with foreign policy, and varies in influence from presidency to presidency. Jones insisted on – and got – a commanding role, the sources said.