President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

• Antony Blinken – Deputy Secretary, Department of State
• Adewale Adeyemo – Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Development, Department of the Treasury
• David Avren Jones – Member, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board
• Michael D. Kennedy – Member, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, and upon appointment to be designated Chairman
• Marisa Lago – Deputy United States Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador, Office of the United States Trade Representative
• Nicholas J. Rasmussen – Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence  

President Obama said, “I am grateful that these talented and dedicated individuals have agreed to take on these important roles and devote their talents to serving the American people.  I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years.”

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Antony Blinken, Nominee for Deputy Secretary, Department of State
Antony Blinken is Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor, a position he has held since 2013.  From 2009 to 2013, Mr. Blinken was Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor in the Office of the Vice President.  Previously, he was Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008.  From 2001 to 2002, he was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  In the Clinton Administration, he served on the National Security Council staff as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs and as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Strategic Planning and Speechwriting.  He also served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs at the Department of State.  Mr. Blinken received a B.A. from Harvard College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Adewale Adeyemo, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Development, Department of the Treasury
Adewale Adeyemo is the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of the Treasury, a position he has held since 2012.  Mr. Adeyemo has served in various positions at Treasury since 2009, including Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff and Deputy Executive Secretary.  He also served as the Chief of Staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2010 to 2011.  Prior to joining the Administration, Mr. Adeyemo served as an Editor for the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution from 2008 to 2009.  Mr. Adeyemo received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

David Avren Jones, Nominee for Member, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board
David Avren Jones is a Member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, a position he has held since 2011.  Mr. Jones founded D.A. Jones LLC, where he serves as an independent advisor and trustee for families and their entities.  Previously, Mr. Jones served as a Managing Director and the Senior Client Executive at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management in New York from 1994 to 2003, after holding various trading and sales roles in the Capital Markets Group.  Prior to that, he ran an investment advisory firm, Bannister Capital Management, from 1991 to 1994 and from 1988 to 1990, he served as CEO of Citicorp Securities Markets, Inc. in New York.  Previously, Mr. Jones worked at Goldman Sachs as the Fixed Income Trading Manager in London.  He has served as a member of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, as Vice Chairman of the Primary Dealers Committee, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Securities Association.  Mr. Jones serves as the Chairman of Fund for the Aged, Inc. and was previously the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Jewish Home Lifecare System in New York.  Mr. Jones received a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Michael D. Kennedy, Nominee for Member, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, and upon appointment to be designated Chairman
Michael D. Kennedy is Chairman and a Member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, positions he has held since 2011 and 2010, respectively.  Mr. Kennedy is a Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry International, a position he has held since 1998.  Prior to joining Korn Ferry, Mr. Kennedy founded a venture capital consulting firm, where he advised a Southeast-based private equity fund.  Previously, Mr. Kennedy was a Vice President in the corporate finance group at GE Capital Corporation and a Vice President in the U.S. corporate group at the Wachovia Corporation.  His financial services career began with J.P. Morgan's Investment Management Group in New York.  Previously, Mr. Kennedy served as a member of Leadership Atlanta, the Atlanta Venture Forum, and the Harvard Business Club of Atlanta.  He also served as a Member and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Employees’ Retirement System of Georgia pension fund, Chairman of the Board of Visitors at the University of North Carolina, and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Phillips Exeter Academy.  Mr. Kennedy received a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Marisa Lago, Nominee for Deputy United States Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador, Office of the United States Trade Representative
Marisa Lago is the Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Development at the Department of the Treasury, a position she has held since 2010.  Since 2013, she has concurrently served as the Acting United States Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.  Previously, Ms. Lago served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Empire State Development from 2008 to 2009.  She was the Global Head of Compliance for Citigroup's corporate and investment bank from 2003 to 2008 and headed the Office of International Affairs for the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1997 to 2001.  From 1994 to 1997, Ms. Lago served as Boston's Chief Economic Development Officer and was General Counsel for New York City's Economic Development Corporation from 1990 to 1994.  She clerked for Judge Hugh. H. Bownes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.  Ms. Lago received a B.S. from Cooper Union and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Nicholas J. Rasmussen, Nominee for Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Nicholas J. Rasmussen is currently Deputy Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), a position he has held since 2012.  From 2007 to 2012, Mr. Rasmussen was a member of the National Security Council (NSC) staff, where he served as a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism.  He held senior policy and planning positions at NCTC from 2004 to 2007, and from 2001 to 2004 he served as Director for Regional Affairs in the Office of Combating Terrorism on the NSC staff.  Previously, Mr. Rasmussen served at the Department of State (DOS), where he was Special Assistant to the Special Middle East Coordinator from 1996 to 2001 as well as Special Assistant to Ambassador-at-Large Robert Gallucci from 1994 to 1996.  He also served as a Foreign Affairs Analyst in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at DOS from 1991 to 1994.  Mr. Rasmussen received a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

FACT SHEET: The Administration’s Strategy to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Updated FY 2015 Overseas Contingency Operations Request

ISIL poses an immediate threat to Iraq, Syria, and American allies and partners throughout the region as it seeks to overthrow governments, control territory, terrorize local populations, and implement an oppressive and intolerant interpretation of sharia law.  If left unchecked, ISIL could pose a growing threat to the United States and others beyond the region.  Thousands of foreign fighters – including Europeans and some Americans – have joined ISIL in Syria and Iraq.  We are concerned that these trained and battle-hardened fighters will try to return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks.  At the same time, ISIL is attempting to assert itself as the leader of the global jihad.  ISIL remains well-resourced and has demonstrated an ability to recruit and radicalize through social media.     

The United has built a global coalition of willing partners with the goal of degrading and ultimately defeating ISIL.  The President has set forward a comprehensive strategy featuring nine lines of effort to counter ISIL:

• Supporting Effective Governance in Iraq:  We are supporting the new Iraqi government on efforts to govern inclusively and effectively as well as to strengthen its cooperation with regional partners. 
• Denying ISIL Safe-Haven: We are conducting a systematic campaign of airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. Working with the Iraqi government, we are striking ISIL targets and supporting Iraqi forces on the ground. We will degrade ISIL’s leadership, logistical and operational capability, and deny it sanctuary and resources to plan, prepare and execute attacks.
• Building Partner Capacity: We will build the capability and capacity of our partners in the region to sustain an effective long-term campaign against ISIL. Our advisors are working to advise Iraqi forces, including Kurdish forces, to improve their ability to plan, lead, and conduct operations against ISIL, and we will provide training to help the Iraqis reconstitute their security forces and establish a National Guard.  Our train and equip program will strengthen the Syrian moderate opposition and help the defend territory from ISIL.
• Enhancing Intelligence Collection on ISIL:  Continuing to gain more fidelity on ISIL’s capabilities, plans, and intentions is central to our strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy the group, and we will continue to strengthen our ability to understand this threat, as well as to share vital information with our Iraqi and Coalition partners to enable them to effectively counter ISIL.   
• Disrupting ISIL’s Finances:  ISIL’s expansion over the past year has given it access to significant and diverse sources of funding.  So, we are working aggressively with our partners on a coordinated approach to reduce ISIL’s revenue from oil and assets it has plundered; limit ISIL’s ability to extort local populations; stem ISIL’s gains from kidnapping for ransom; and disrupt the flow of external donations to the group. 
• Exposing ISIL’s True Nature:  Clerics around the world have spoken up in recent weeks to highlight ISIL’s hypocrisy, condemning the group’s savagery and criticizing its self-proclaimed “caliphate.”  We are working with our partners throughout the Muslim world to highlight ISIL’s hypocrisy and counter its false claims of acting in the name of religion.  
• Disrupting the Flow of Foreign Fighters:  Foreign terrorist fighters are ISIL’s lifeblood, and a global security threat—with citizens of nearly 80 countries filling its ranks.  On September 24, the President convened an historic Summit-level meeting of the UN Security Council, focused on this issue and we will continue to lead an international effort to stem the flow of fighters into Syria and Iraq.
• Protecting the Homeland: We will continue to use the criminal justice system as a critical counterterrorism tool, work with air carriers to implement responsible threat-based security and screening requirements, and counter violent extremism here at home. 
• Humanitarian Support:  We and our partners will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced and vulnerable in Iraq and Syria.

Pursuing the nine lines of effort to advance the comprehensive strategy is a whole of government effort. 

FY 2015 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Amendment

The Administration will submit an updated FY 2015 OCO request to Congress for the Department of Defense (DOD), the Intelligence Community (IC), and the Department of State and Other International Programs (State/OIP).  These amendments request $5.6 billion for OCO activities to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL.

These OCO amendments would provide resources for DOD and State/OIP for operations and activities that were not anticipated when the Administration submitted its June 2014 OCO budget request.

Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR)

In support of OIR, the OCO amendments include $5.0 billion for DOD to conduct a range of military operations against ISIL in the Middle East region, which includes the $1.6 billion Iraq Train and Equip Fund.  These operations directly support the components of the Administration’s strategy that aim to deny ISIL a safe-haven and expand intelligence collection against ISIL.  Funds include items such as:

• sustaining personnel forward deployed to the Middle East to provide training, advice, and assistance to partner security forces engaged in the fight against ISIL; 
• providing forces with enablers to support operations, especially the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms and support that are essential to conduct comprehensive counterterrorism operations;
• replenishing or replacing munitions expended while conducting airstrikes against ISIL, including from Air Force and Navy platforms; and
• financing operations and maintenance costs for air, ground, and naval operations, including: flying hours; ship steaming days; and fuel, supplies, and repair parts.      

The proposed OCO funding is in addition to the $58.6 billion DOD OCO request sent to the Congress in June 2014, which included the costs of operations in Afghanistan, DOD’s forward military presence in the broader Middle East region, and other critical missions.  The costs of military operations against ISIL in the Middle East region were not included in the June 2014 request, and DOD requires additional funding in order to avoid diverting funding from other key priorities within its budget.

Building Partner Capacity

DOD’s request supports the President’s strategy in terms of building partner capacity with the $1.6 billion Iraq Train and Equip Fund (ITEF).  ITEF will provide the resources to help reconstitute and develop security forces.  The funding will allow for training at multiple sites throughout Iraq for approximately twelve Iraqi brigades.  Coalition members will also play a critical role in the training of these forces. DoD will provide training, supplies, and equipment for Iraqi forces.  ITEF will complement other efforts to enable partners to counter terrorism, such as the Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund (CTPF) requested as part of the Administration’s June 2014 OCO request.

Funding for State/OIP

The amendments include $520 million in funding for State/OIP, which is in addition to the $7.3 billion total OCO request for State/OIP in the FY 2015 Budget and June OCO amendment including CTPF.  The existing request provides funding for diplomacy, governance, and security programs and activities to respond to the situation in Syria and other ongoing global crises.  This amendment includes additional resources to counter ISIL in Iraq, Syria, and the rest of the region – directly linked to denying ISIL Safe Haven, Building Partner Capacity, Exposing ISIL’s True Nature and Humanitarian Support lines of effort. 

The funds will support the following activities: 

• Bolstering regional partners and their efforts to address extremist threats along their borders;
• Expanding ongoing assistance to the moderate Syrian opposition to develop their capacity to provide local security for communities;
• Providing assistance to meet emergency humanitarian needs in Iraq; and
• Exposing ISIL’s bankrupt ideology and narrative by amplifying positive messaging through international media and public diplomacy programs.

Statement from Shaun Donovan, Director of the Office of Management and Budget

The Obama Administration will request $5.6 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) activities to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL – including military operations as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. This request updates our June OCO request to Congress for the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of State and Other International Programs.

The request includes $1.6 billion to establish an Iraq Train and Equip Fund to develop and support Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish forces, as they work with the Government of Iraq to confront ISIL. This funding will help reconstitute the Iraqi Army and strengthen the capability and capacity of our Iraqi partners to go on the offensive against ISIL.

In total, this request supports the strategy the President laid out in his address to the Nation on September 10. That comprehensive strategy identified a clear objective for the United States and its allies and partners: to degrade, and ultimately defeat, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism campaign. Even with this additional request, total OCO funding for DOD is still approximately $20 billion less than the Department’s enacted OCO funding last year – continuing the downward trend in OCO spending as America’s combat mission in Afghanistan concludes.

We believe this request is an opportunity for Congress and this Administration to work together to provide the additional resources needed to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL and I look forward to working with Congress to secure this funding.

Readout of the President’s Meeting with Congressional Leaders

This afternoon, the President hosted Congressional leaders for a bicameral, bipartisan meeting to chart a new course forward and discuss areas of common ground where we can work together right away to deliver results for America’s middle class. The President started a conversation with the leaders on their priorities for the next few months and what they think can be accomplished on a bipartisan basis in the new year. The leaders shared their desire to work together in a bipartisan way.

The President also made clear that there is still business to get done this year and he set forth three areas where Congress can work together now. First, Congress can act now to support the request for emergency funding to combat Ebola abroad and increase our preparedness at home. Second, the President urged the leaders to pass a budget for the rest of the fiscal year in the same bipartisan, drama-free way they did earlier this year because there is no reason to create uncertainty for businesses that are putting Americans back to work. Finally, Secretary Hagel, Director Donovan and General Austin briefed the Members on the Administration’s ongoing efforts to confront the threat posed by ISIL and requested that Congress provide $5.6 billion in additional resources in FY15 to support the counter-ISIL strategy. General Austin also briefed the Leadership on an expansion of our effort to train and assist Iraqi Security Forces.

The President reiterated his commitment to taking action on immigration reform in light of the House’s inability to pass a comprehensive bill.

This week, the American people sent a clear message to Washington to deliver for the American people. The President heard them and he looks forward to working with Republicans and Democrats to do just that.

Congressional Participants

• Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid, D-NV
• Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY
• Speaker John Boehner, R-OH
• Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-CA
• Representative Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, Majority Leader
• Senator John Cornyn, R-TX, Minority Whip
• Representative Steny Hoyer, D-MD, Democratic Whip
• Senator John Thune, R-SD, Republican Conference Chairman
• Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-WA, Republican Conference Chairman
• Representative Xavier Becerra, D-CA, Democratic Caucus Chairman
• Senator Charles Schumer, D-NY, Vice Chair of the Conference and Chair of the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center
• Senator Patty Murray, D-WA, Secretary of the Conference
• Senator John Barrasso, R-WY, Republican Policy Committee Chairman

Administration Participants

• The Vice President
• Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense
• GEN Lloyd Austin, Commander, U.S. Central Command
• Denis McDonough, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff
• John Podesta, Counselor to the President
• Susan Rice, Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor
• Katie Fallon, Assistant to the President and Director of Legislative Affairs
• Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement
• Shaun Donovan, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
• Ron Klain, Ebola Response Coordinator
• Alejandro Perez, Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs and House Liaison
• Anne Wall, Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs and Senate Liaison