Why is Mark Lippert quitting as Chief of Staff to National Security Adviser, Gen. James Jones?
Lippert is returning to military service for another deployment as an intelligence officer with the Navy SEALs. Before President Obama took office, Lippert was his top foreign policy aide in the Senate. Lippert missed much of the presidential campaign when he was deployed to Iraq for a year from 2007 to the summer of 2008. This time he’s expected to be deployed for six to nine months. Lippert’s move sparked some movement at the top ranks of the NSC. Denis McDonough, who is now deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, takes over for Lippert as NSC chief of staff. Ben Rhodes, who had been a top foreign policy aide during the presidential campaign and is now a White House speechwriter, will move to the NSC to take McDonough’s job. Sources: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/10/01/obama_adviser_to_leave_white_h.html?
Sr. Obama NSC Aide Quits for Military October 01, 2009 9:52 AM When Barack Obama came to the Senate, Mark Lippert — a veteran Senate aide and newly-minted Naval Reserve officer — was the first foreign policy adviser he hired. Now, Lippert — currently serving as Deputy National Security Adviser and Chief of Staff to the NSC — is becoming the first senior member of the President’s foreign policy team to leave the Administration. Lippert had even more influence than his lofty, dual title would suggest, a product of his long service and determined work ethic. While it’s unusual for someone with his level of power and proximity to the President to leave the Administration so early (and there are some reports of clashes with NSA Jim Jones), Lippert associates say he is answering to a higher calling: returning to active military service as a Naval Intelligence Officer. Lippert served 9 months in Iraq during the Presidential campaign and had discussed returning to active service with the P
MARK LIPPERT Obama’s longest-serving foreign-policy adviser spent a year deployed in Iraq working as an intelligence officer with the Navy SEALS. Known as a pragmatist, Lippert will serve as chief of staff at the National Security Council. He and is an advocate for rebuilding the military and increasing the size of the Army and Marines. Sources: http://www.washingtonlife.
