New Recruits

President-elect Barack Obama announced new additions to his administration's national security team this afternoon.

Two key White House billets are among the announcements.

According to the Obama team, they will be filled by:

Thomas Donilon, deputy national security advisor
Donilon is a partner at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers and serves on the firm’s global governing committee. Most recently Mr. Donilon co-chaired the Obama-Biden State Department Agency Review Team and the Obama-Biden general election debate preparation effort. Mr. Donilon served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief of Staff at the U.S. State Department during the Clinton Administration. In these capacities, he oversaw the development and implementation of the Department’s major policy initiatives. He was deeply involved in a range of policy issues, including the Bosnia and Middle East peace negotiations, the expansion of NATO, and US-China relations.

Antony “Tony” Blinken, national security advisor to the vice president
Blinken is staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a post he's held since 2002. From 1994 to 2001, Mr. Blinken served on the National Security Council staff at The White House. He was Senior Director for European Affairs (1999-2001) and Senior Director for Strategic Planning and NSC Senior Director for Speechwriting (1994-1998). He also served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (1993 – 1994), and was a lawyer in New York and Paris. Mr. Blinken was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (2001 to 2002) and a Senior Foreign Policy adviser to the Obama-Biden presidential campaign.

Nominated to two top State Department posts are James Steinberg, deputy secretary of state, who was deputy national security adviser to President Clinton from 1996 to 2000; and Jacob Lew, deputy secretary of state, who directed the White House Office of Management and Budget for part of Clinton's presidency.

In a statement, Obama said: “The team that we have assembled is uniquely suited to meet the great global challenges facing us today. They join a strong team of leading experts and accomplished managers and I look forward to working with them in the years ahead.”