PROFILE: Obama's security adviser Jones: elite general with humour

By Mike McCarthy Dec 1, 2008, 18:38 GMT

Washington - Retired four-star General James Jones, 64, nominated Monday to be president-elect Barack Obama's national security adviser, made history in January 2003 with his appointment as NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe and head of the US forces on the continent.

It was the first time a commandant of the Marine Corps held the highest military post in the alliance.

Three years later, Jones, 64, gave up the command and retired in 2007 after 40 years military service, but still advised the Bush administration on security issues in the Middle East.

On Monday, Obama nominated him to serve as his national security advisor once he takes control of the White House on January 20.

Jones will 'bring to the job the duel experience of serving in uniform and as a diplomat,' Obama said in the announcement of his security team from his hometown Chicago transitional headquarters.

'Jim is focused on the threats of today and the future. He understands the connection between energy and natural security and has worked on the front lines of global instability from Kosovo to northern Iraq to Afghanistan,' Obama said.

Jones' Marine Corps career was long and distinguished. He's a decorated Vietnam War veteran and in 1992 became a deputy director of the US European Command. He later oversaw some missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia.

Known for being focused, steady and serious, Jones also likes to tell jokes and stories in a fashion not uncommon for a senior officer, and he was well-liked by his troops.

In 2001, he told a story about a young Marine he once caught with his feet up in an office on an amphibious assault ship. Jones said he was joking when, in a serious tone, he asked the sailor if his parents allowed him to rest his feet on the furniture at home.

'No sir. But my parents don't allow me to park helicopters on the roof either, sir,' Jones said of the sailor's response.

Jones joined the Marines in 1967. After leaving Vietnam, he moved up the ranks, serving as the service's liaison to the Senate and toward the end of the 1990s became an adviser to then-defence secretary William Cohen. He became commandant of the Marine Corps in 1999.

In accepting the nomination in Chicago, Jones said he was 'deeply humbled' by the call to such a sensitive post 'especially during the challenging times we currently face.'

Jones said that national security in the 21st century comprised all elements of 'our national power and influence working in coordination and harmony towards the desired goal of keeping our nation safe, helping to make our world a better place, and providing opportunity to live in peace and security for the generations to follow.'