WASHINGTON AND CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama on Monday introduced his national security team, made up of centrist Washington insiders, and promised an overhaul of foreign policy to give added emphasis to diplomacy and bring a "new dawn of American leadership."
Appearing at a Chicago news conference with secretary of State nominee Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and five others whom he plans to put on his team, Obama said his administration would restore U.S. standing in the world through alliance-building and international institutions, as well as by maintaining American military might.
That power "has to be combined with the wisdom and force of our diplomacy," Obama said. He pledged that the nation would exert influence by "the power of our moral example." His words seemed aimed at drawing a contrast with the Bush administration, which has been widely seen as emphasizing military force and unilateral action.
In one sign of the importance the new president will place on international institutions, Obama said the job of ambassador to the United Nations would again have Cabinet rank, as it did under President Clinton.
Obama said he would nominate Susan E. Rice, a former State Department official, to the U.N. post. The national security team will also include Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who will continue in his position; retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones Jr., the new national security advisor; Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the nominee for secretary of Homeland Security; and former Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., the nominee for attorney general.
Even as Obama emphasized his plans for a break from Bush policy, there were abundant reminders that the new team would struggle with familiar problems, and that there would be substantial continuity in the way they must deal with them.
Obama said his administration would be committed to maintaining "the strongest military on the planet" and to increasing the ranks of the Army and the Marine Corps.
While emphasizing new efforts to win friends abroad, the president-elect promised to continue the campaign against terrorists, because "there is no place for those who kill innocent civilians to advance hateful extremism."
Obama acknowledged that although his administration advocates non-military or "soft power" approaches to overseas challenges, it enters office facing emergencies that may call for the use of U.S. troops and intelligence that President Bush has relied on.
