C4
At the seat of security
donilon from C1
area that we thought was very, very important.” Personally, Donilon is also do-
ing a bit of his own posturing.His objectively impressive transition fromthe political fast track to the apex of a long and plodding policy path resulted, he said, from his decision to “turn away from poli- tics and toward policy and law,” in themodel of Dean Acheson,War- ren Christopher and Jim Baker. This characterization tends to glossoverhisdecadesasapolitical knife fighter, his history of court- ing the press and his lucrative years as a lobbyist forFannieMae. That resume and his political acu- ity may be at odds with his pro- fessed policy asceticism, but it makes him doubly useful to his bosses. Vice President Biden said that
when it came to understanding thebalance of tactics andstrategy, of policy and politics, “Tom does better than anyone I have ever dealtwith,and—Iamgoingtosay something outrageous-sounding to you—includingKissinger.”
The guy to talk to Onarecentafternoon,Donilon,
wearingablueshirtandredtie,sat for an hour-long discussion in his office, decorated with a tinseled Christmas tree, portraits of his wife, Cathy Russell, who is Jill Biden’s chiefof staff, andtheir two young children, Sarah and Teddy. A blown-up photo showed a wa- ter-gun fight between Teddy and the vicepresident,whohasplayed a central role in his political and personal life. Donilon’s thin upper lip disap-
pears when he talks, and it disap- pears often. He has a high word- per-minuteratio,packedwithdip- lomaticpaeans to “Americanpow- er, prestige and authority” and discretionary feints such as “I don’t want to comment on that,” which he employed when asked about his interest in the chief of staff job, his conversations with the president, National Security Councilmeetings or the accuracy of the Jordan-memo legend. His own opinions, to the extent that they are expressed at all, come wrapped in legalistic, first-per- son-plural gauze about “the way we approachourworkhere.” Despite all this, Donilon has a
disarmingmanner.His barrage of sentences is softenedby analmost
priestly voice. His supple physique reflects decades of a sedentary life digesting briefing books and biogra- phies (the latest being Bob Dylan’s). He has the wary eyes of a man coming off a long flight. In fact, Donilon had just returned from Af- ghanistan and in the last month traveled the equiva- lent of twice around the globe. Inthelead-uptothepresi-
dent’s recent trip to India, Donilon acted as the most vocalproponent intop-levelmeet- ings for Obama to punctuate his SouthAsiavisitwithaproposal for India to join the U.N. Security Council. According to the admin- istration official, U.N. Ambassa- dor Susan Rice objected on the grounds that themovemight pro- duce tension among other Securi- tyCouncil aspirants suchasBrazil and Germany. The president agreedwithDonilon. Donilon declined to comment
on any internal discussions, but, as he sipped fuel from an omni- present canofDietCoke,he spoke enthusiastically about the “full embrace of India.” Biden also wouldn’t discuss
Donilon’s personal recommenda- tions to the president, but said Donilon’s view on the importance of the India tripwas correct. “Tom turned out to be dead right,” he said, calling the tripanetpositive. He added that the trip wasn’t un- related to Donilon’s insistence to keep “bringing my focus and the president’s focus, not back to, but to the emergingpowers.” Inthe summerof 2010,Donilon
met Steven Clemons, a senior fel- low at the New America Founda- tion, for lunch in Washington. Clemons shared with Donilon a Chinese official’s private remark that the Asian power’s great hope was“tokeepAmericadistractedin smallMiddleEasterncountries.” According to Clemons, “Doni-
lon said, ‘That’s our big chal- lenge.’ ” A fewmonths later, in Septem-
ber,Donilon raised his hand to go on a trip to China with Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and re- ceived meetings with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jia- bao. While the administration’s progress with China has been mixed, to put it charitably, admin- istration officials said the Chinese identified himas the guy to talk to
CHARLES DHARAPAK/ASSOCIATED PRESS A seat at the table
on foreign policy issues. Like many people in Washington, the Chinese were likely aware that in his two years as the extraordinari- ly hands-on deputy to the remark- ably hands-off Gen. Jim Jones, Donilonorganizedandparticipat- edinmore than300of thedeputy- levelmeetings,wheremuchof the policy ismade. “He carried the ball on a lot of
issues,” said Sandy Berger, a for- mer national security adviser un- derBillClinton. Donilon also spoke with satis-
faction about his role in helping hammer out a new strategic arms treatywithRussia,oneof thepres- ident’s foreign policy accomplish- ments. But hewas less loquacious about the calls he has made back home to help get the treaty passed in the Senate. Whereas adminis- trationofficials saidJonesputalot of emphasis on getting recalci- trantRepublican JonKyl ofArizo- na, considered the key vote to the bill’s passage, to go alongwith the treaty, Donilon has cast a wider net to allayRepublicanconcerns. “People tend to take his call
around town,” said Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, an old acquain- tance. “That’s a big skill.” Donilon, for once, acknowl-
edged that he hadn’t entirely re- tiredhis oldpolitical tools. “I’ve been part of our effort to
make the case,” he said, adding, “I contribute.”
The uniformed ranks Donilon’s central role in the
WestWing could not bemore dif- ferent thanthatofhispredecessor. “Some of the things that were
terribly important to others were not terribly important to me,” ac- knowledged Jones, who had little experience in Democratic power politics or familiarity with its mainplayers. “I had never heard of
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er.Nope,” Jones saidofDonilon. “I do remember Rahm Emanuel in Chicago; when I first met Rahm, basically he suggested that I talk to him. I did not know how close they were. Nobody told me that, but they are obviously very close, as I found out during my stay at theWhiteHouse.” That admission also reflects
Donilon’s unfamiliarity with the uniformed ranks. In September, news leaked that journalist Bob Woodward’s latest book “Obama’s Wars,” quoted Defense Secretary Robert Gates calling Donilon a “disaster” as an eventual national security adviser. The quote became fodder for
the political media and cable TV, andsomeconservativepressques- tioned whether Donilon was an- tagonistic to the Pentagon. Doni- lon shrugged off any “conspira- cies” that the quote was intended to weaken his influence. “This is the third administration I have been in,” Donilon said. “So you know, stray voltage like that really doesn’tdistractme.” Donilon characteristically
sought to downplay any tension between himself and themilitary. He saidhehadagoodrelationship withGatesandmethimweeklyfor lunch. “We havemore alignment now,
internally,” he said, adding the military leaders had both a better sense of him and his “large re- sponsibility tomake sure that the president’s decisions are execut- ed.” At the completion of the De-
cember review on Afghanistan, it was clear Obama intended to
withdraw troops sooner rather
thanlater.Thedecisivedebatewill come in the summer, and skeptics about sustaining a large military presence there see tough times ahead. “He has a very challenging year
ahead of himin dealingwith Pen- tagon,” said Christopher, former secretary of state and mentor to Donilon. “If I had to pick the guys most
likely to and capable of, ifneed be, standing up to themilitary, I rank Tom at the top,” said Biden, who advocatedagainst thetroopsurge. Biden said military leaders had learnedthatwithDonilon, “if they are going to take a position con- trary to the president’s position, thenbring your best game.”
The fork in the road Donilon’s friends and admirers
comparehismindtoafile cabinet. During the interview, he referred to a White House notepad on which he had marked key points. His pride in preparation, he said, was instilledearly. His father, he said, always told
him and his three younger sib- lings, “Level of effort matters in most things in life.” His mother workedtwojobs,asaschool secre- taryandmessageserviceoperator. Inher sparetime, sheservedas the presidentof thecity’s school secre- taries andjanitorsunion. The overachiever environment
of theWhite House is not new to Donilon. His brother Mike went on to be a key political adviser to Biden and other powerful politi- cians.His other brother,Terrence, is nowthe communications direc- tor for the Archdiocese of Boston. (The Church’s search was carried out by a group close toBiden.)His sister is a nurse. His best friend down the block, Devine, is now one of the Democratic Party’s key consultants. Around the corner, Mark Gallogly became a private equity giant and early, influential Obamadonor. Donilon went to Providence’s
La SalleAcademy, aCatholic boys’ school also attendedbyReed,who denied that he has any interest in joining Donilon at the principals’ table by replacing Gates. Donilon won amodel U.N. contest at Har- vard. “Theywere Russia,” recalled
Devine.DonilonwentontoCatho- lic University, where he hit it off with another Irish Catholic guy fascinated by politics, Terry McAuliffe. Classmates recalled Donilon
andMcAuliffeastheschool’spolit- ical establishment. “The guys inmy group were all
about bringing some change and reform,” said John Sumser, now a human resources consultant in California,who then ran a faction against Donilon andMcAuliffe in student government. “And Tom was more the standard student government guy.” After graduation in 1977, a pro-
fessor setDonilonupwithaWhite House internship, which he soon parlayed into a staff position. For the1980reelectioneffort,Donilon and other young campaign sol- diers, includingDevine, TonyCor- rado and McAuliffe, rented a group house in Northeast Wash- ington. “Hopefully, you haven’t done too much research on that,” Donilonsaidwryly. Referring to McAuliffe, now a
longtime Clinton loyalist and fierce critic of Obama during the 2008Democraticprimary,headd- ed, “I actually brought Terry into theCartercampaign.”Whenasked
if he rued that day, he smiled and said, “Not until recent elections.” (McAuliffe, uncharacteristically, declinedto comment.) TheCarter reelectioncampaign
faced a crisis caused by a conven- tion challenge fromTed Kennedy, whowasangryover stalledhealth- care reforms.HamiltonJordanas- signed his young protege as the Democratic convention’s chief knife fighter. “We went back and looked at
every successful and unsuccessful convention challenge to a nomi- nee,” said John Rendon, who was the conventionmanager and now workscloselywiththePentagonas a media consultant. “We went back 50 years or so.” “I remember this very well,”
said Donilon, who recalled study- ing thework that JimBaker did in preparingfor the1976convention, whenGeraldFordsurviveda chal- lenge fromRonaldReagan. WithDonilon’swork to identify
and target the wavering Carter delegates,Carter stopped the slip- page and won the convention. Weakened, he went on to lose the election to Reagan. These days, with frustration building in Obama’s liberal base over — amongother things—healthcare, a Democratic challenge to the president is the administration’s ultimate, if unrealistic, night- mare. But Donilon said he doesn’t
want or expect to be called off the bench. “I haven’t been involved in politics inalongtime,”heinsisted. That decision to get off the po-
litical path amounted to what Donilon depicted as a fork-in-the- road moment. After Carter’s loss, his campaign manager Robert Strauss presented the political wunderkindwithanopportunity. “It would have been a natural
progression to go into political consulting and to go into politics full time,”Donilonsaid. But officials in the Carter ad-
ministration interjected with some advice. Most importantly, Christopher, then deputy secre- tary of state, suggested he read Dean Acheson’s memoir “Present at the Creation” to sniff out a dif- ferent
route.Donilon opted to en- roll in the University of Virginia School of Law. And the rest is history. Therealityis less
stark.Donilon
managed to keep a foot on both paths. “He briefedme onmy debates,”
said former vice presidentWalter Mondale, who described Donilon as invaluable tohis 1984presiden- tial campaign. “And I think just about every Democratic nominee since then.” While always a famously vora-
cious reader, his enthusiasms back then extended to other fare as well. Friends from that period describe a movie buff (he loved “Patton”) with a well-thumbed black book and a penchant for the Palm steakhouse. Marty Kaplan, who worked closely with Donilon on Mondale’s 1984 campaign, re- ferredtohimas “Falstaffian.” But the Reagan revolution dis-
patched Carter and Mondale and essentially changed the political firmament Donilon had under- stood. He soon gravitated toward theorbitof anewDemocratic star, JoeBiden, andwithout everwork- ing on the Hill, became a trusted adviser, including on how to op- pose conservative Supreme Court nomineeRobertBork in1987. “I remember Tom’s advice back
then, and it was, ‘Just make sure youdothisinatotallyevenhanded way,’ ” said Biden, who described himself as “joined at the hip” to Donilon. Itwasn’t the only impor- tant connection Donilon made at the time. In 1988, Russell, an at- tractive aide six years his junior whom he had met back on the Mondale campaign,
Biden’spresidential effort. “We were secretly dating,” Rus-
sell said. To keepDonilon’s identi- ty hidden during his frequent calls, she said, “I made him use a fake name. It was an Irish name, we’ll leave it at that.” (“You’re not cleared for that in-
formation,” Donilon said when askedfor clarification.) After Biden’s bid crashed in a
plagiarism scandal, Christopher swooped in to recruit Donilon to the lawfirmO’Melveny&Myers in
The Clinton era reintroduced
Donilon’s familiar face as a fixture in Democratic foreign policy cir- cles. Ambassador Wendy Sherman,
a senior StateDepartment official at the time, recalled crammed meetings inDonilon’s smalloffice, wherehewouldjotdownnotes on a yellow legal pad and issue marching orders to as many as a dozen top officials gathered aroundhisdesk. IntheHaiti crisis of 1994, Donilon argued to loosen the rules of engagement forAmer- ican troops, according to Rendon, who closely advised the Pentagon onpublic relations issues. When the situation in Bosnia
boiled over, Christopher said that Donilon brought in Richard Hol- brooke, with whom he stayed close and visited on his deathbed this month. When the photos of the Srebrenica massacre came to light, Donilon “understood we had to act,” Sherman said, and quickly went about gaining sup- port on Capitol Hill, consulting with NATO allies and getting the legal authority for a strike. But Donilon also grewmindful
of the rising powers in the East. Later in the administration, as Christopher prepared to make a visit to Japan,whereMondalewas servingasambassador, the former vice president received a call from Donilon, who peppered him with questions ontrade issues. “Hehadadeepinterest inAsia,”
Mondale said. Despite his role inmultination-
aleconomicdealsabroad,Donilon hasdevelopedareputationamong friendsathomeaspersonallytight withadollar. “He’snotabigspend- er,”hiswifedeadpanned. But it isnot forwant of capital. In 1999, after a resume-enrich-
ing stretch in power, Donilon turned down the post of deputy Treasury secretary and took a lu- crative job as chief lobbyist for Fannie Mae. At the time, his daughter, Sarah, was 3, and his wife was nine months pregnant with their son Teddy. Either to provide his children with the op- portunities he never had, as his friends insist, or simply to cash in, as his detractors suggest, he re- ceived millions over the next six years to advise the company and lobby Congress. His critics say he bears some of the blame for the company’s role inthe economical- lydisastrousmortgage fiasco. “Idon’t think anybodyhas indi-
cated that I did anything but do my job at FannieMae,” said Doni- lon, quickly switching to what he considered a more important use ofhis timeoutsideof government: connecting to a network of think tanksandforeign-policyeminenc- es to stay inthe loop. In the run-up to the 2008 presi-
dential campaign,Donilonunoffi- cially returned to Biden’s side as he again sought the presidency and later emerged as a key figure in Obama’s debate preparation and,ultimately, the transition. Shortly after Thanksgiving in
2008, Donilon and Mark Lippert, Obama’s foreign policy adviser in the Senate, interviewed with Jones in his Chamber of Com- merce office on H Street NW. The trio talked about Jones’s belief in empowering subordinates and the need to expand the National Security Council into a team, in- stead of what Jones called “an empire of one or two people, indi- vidualswho go andwhisper inthe president’s ear.” On a yellow legal pad, theymapped out the bottom- up structure for the administra- tion’s national security decision- makingprocess. “I told Tom he was going to be
the guywhowouldkeepthe trains running ontime,” Jones said. For two years, Donilon did ex-
joined
actly
that.Nowhehas a seat at the table and the ear of a president. AccordingtoBiden,afterapresen- tation of the key choices and posi- tionsof theprincipals,Obamawill turn to ask, “Well, what’s your opinion, Tom?” Asked if the presi- dent turns toDonilonoften,Biden said with a chuckle, “Yes, yes, he does.”
horowitzj@washpost.com 6
ONWASHINGTONPOST.COMTo see profiles of key players in the
president’s national security team, go
towashingtonpost.com/style.
EZ SU
KLMNO
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2010
TEAMPLAYER: President Obama meets withRussian President Dmitry Medvedev in Japan. Tom Donilon, to Obama’s left, has taken an active role in hammering out foreign policy issues.
1991, theyearhemarriedRus- sell. In 1993, Christopher, who was by then secretary of state for Bill Clinton, called again, this time to hire Doni- lon as his chief of staff. The White House, mindful of Donilon’s political chops, had similar ideas. “Therewas a bit of a tug of
war,” Christopher said. “And I was gladtohavewonout.”
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