Obama's Working Group on National Security

[Guardsman Bass]

I posted this mainly because I'm curious as to what people here who have spent more time studying or working professionally on national security issues think about the people on his team.

At the first meeting of his national security working group, Barack Obama once again sought to link John McCain’s approach to foreign policy to what he called “the failed policies of the Bush administration.”

Mr. Obama ticked off a series of challenges, including the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, poverty, climate change and genocide.

“Nearly all these threats have grown over the last eight years because of the policies of George Bush, which I believe have left us less safe and less respected in the world,” Mr. Obama said, according to a pool report of the meeting. “There’s going to be a clear choice in this election: John McCain wants to continue the Bush-Cheney foreign policy. I want to turn the page.”

He also accused Mr. McCain of taking a page from the “Bush-Cheney political playbook” after one of the presumptive Republican nominee’s top advisers, Randy Scheunemann, said in a conference call yesterday that Mr. Obama had a pre-9/11 mindset.

Mr. Obama made the remarks in an opening statement to the group. The press was not allowed to sit in on the subsequent discussion.

The 13-member group includes two former secretaries of state -– Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher –- former Secretary of Defense William Perry and former National Security Adviser Tony Lake.

At the meeting, Mr. Obama acknowledged those, including Ms. Albright, who supported the candidacy of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton during the primaries. Bill Burton, a spokesman for the campaign, said Mr. Obama would meet regularly with the advisory group between now and the election.

Below is a full list of the members of Senator Obama’s working group. At Wednesday’s meeting, Sam Nunn and Warren Christopher participated via telephone and Eric Holder, who is also a member of Mr. Obama’s vice presidential vetting team, did not attend.

Senator Obama’s Senior Working Group on National Security:

* Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

* Senator David Boren, former Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

* Secretary of State Warren Christopher

* Greg Craig, former director of the State Department Office of Policy Planning

* Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig

* Representative Lee Hamilton, former Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee

* Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder

* Dr. Tony Lake, former National Security Adviser

* Senator Sam Nunn, former Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

* Secretary of Defense William Perry

* Dr. Susan Rice, former Assistant Secretary of State

* Representative Tim Roemer, 9/11 Commissioner

* Jim Steinberg, former Deputy National Security Adviser

Any thoughts? I recognize Albright and Warren Christopher, but honestly have no idea as to whether they are considered "good" in this area, or in the areas in which they worked (I believe both of the above were Secretaries of State at different points).

[Sea Skimmer]

Great, Clintons secretary of the navy, the guy who oversaw extensive and very expensive conversions of ships to New Threat Upgrade, only to have them decommissioned and scrapped within five years all within his tenure, brilliant thinking. I guess we can count hope for a resurgent navy in the post ‘cut everything to pay for Iraq’ era as doomed from the start.