Like Gates, Jones was courted by campaigns of both major parties in the last two years. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice approached him in 2006 about becoming her deputy, but he declined the offer.
Analysts believe Jones would be a strong figure in the White House job, able to hold his own against bureaucratic challenges from the Pentagon and the State Department. Obama's team believes too much power has migrated to the Pentagon since the Iraq war began and would prefer to restore the White House's role at the center of command.
However, Jones has not agreed with all of Obama's stances. For example, he has said that the United States should not set a deadline for departure from Iraq.
Jones has been serving as a Bush administration Mideast envoy charged with helping reorganize the troubled Palestinian security forces. He grew up in France, where his father was an International Harvester executive, and he speaks fluent French.
Next week's appointments will probably include Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State. Clinton has agreed to accept the post, giving a central administration role to Obama's main primary election opponent.
Obama also is expected to appoint James Steinberg, deputy national security advisor under President Clinton, to be deputy secretary of State. Steinberg is known as brainy and intense, and he could help backstop the former first lady and New York senator in areas in which she is less familiar.
Obama is expected to make Thomas E. Donilon, a former State Department official and close ally of Sen. Clinton, deputy national security advisor.
Kurt Campbell, the top East Asia official in the Clinton Pentagon, is expected to return to the Defense Department in another top post. Campbell, Donilon and Steinberg have worked together and are considered close friends.
Susan Rice, a former assistant secretary of State and one of the original Obama foreign policy advisors, is expected to be chosen U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
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julian.barnes@latimes.com
paul.richter@latimes.com
cparsons@tribune.com
