Obama set for changes to national security team

By Mike McCarthy Apr 27, 2011, 21:28 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama is set to announce changes to his national security team, with Defence Secretary Robert Gates poised to leave the Pentagon by the end of June and be replaced by CIA Director Leon Panetta.

In a conference call arranged by the White House Wednesday, a senior administration official told reporters that Obama will outline a series of changes to his cabinet and to key diplomatic and military posts.

Gates, a holdover from the former president George W Bush's cabinet, had previously stated his intention to leave this year. On the job since December 2006, Gates, 67, oversaw Bush's troop surge in Iraq and a similar buildup by Obama in Afghanistan.

The June 30 departure for Gates depends on a smooth Senate confirmation process for Panetta, said the administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending Obama's announcement.

Obama intends to name General David Petraeus, the 58-year-old commander of US and international forces in Afghanistan, as the next CIA director. Ryan Crocker, a retired diplomat who last served as US ambassador to Iraq, will be appointed ambassador to Afghanistan, the official said.

Lieutenant General John Allen, deputy commander of US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, South-Central Asia and part of Africa, will be named as successor to Petraeus, the official said.

The White House wants to move to get Senate approval for Crocker, 61, by the end of spring to replace retired general Karl Eikenberry as ambassador in Kabul, the official said. Eikenberry has been said to have a frosty relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The changes come at a critical time in US policy, with ongoing upheaval in the Middle East, the remaining 50,000 US troops scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of the year, and the ongoing fight in Afghanistan against the Taliban.

Petraeus will stay on in his current role to ensure continuity under the planned drawdown of some US forces scheduled for July, the official said.

Panetta, 72, took control of the Central Intelligence Agency after Obama took office in January 2009. A former congressman from California, Panetta was former president Bill Clinton's chief of staff and served on a commission known as the Iraq Study Group that evaluated the Bush administration's approach in Iraq.

Petraeus will again have a chance - albeit briefly - to work closely with Crocker. The two men worked together in Iraq to turn the tide against the violence that had seen the country descending into civil war. Petraeus, a four-star general and a counterinsurgency expert, has been quickly rising up the US national security establishment.

Gates, a former CIA director and well-respected figure across the Democratic and Republican parties, reluctantly agreed to stay on after Obama's election at the new president's request. Gates took charge of the Pentagon after Bush's party was hammered in 2006 mid- term elections that effectively forced the ouster of his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld.

One of the longest-serving defence secretaries, Gates' tenure will be marked by the turnaround in Iraq and setting the stage for a US withdrawal, and bolstering the stalled effort in Afghanistan. Domestically, he is credited with reining in unnecessary spending on weapons programmes and overseeing Obama's initiative to end the ban that kept homosexuals from serving openly in the military.

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