Current Position: Temporary National Security Council Chief of Staff (since January 2009)
Credit: Official White House
photo by Pete Souza
Why He Matters
McDonough has worked on foreign policy issues in Congress for more than ten years.
He was a top foreign policy adviser to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and to President Barack Obama when he was a Senator. He also served as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank from where several Obama administration officials have hailed.
McDonough will continue to advise the president on foreign policy and help his craft speeches as director of strategic communications for the National Security Council.
At a Glance
Current Position: Director of Strategic Communications, National Security Council (since Jan. 2009)
Career History: Member of President Barack Obama's transition team (Nov. 2008 to Jan. 2009); Foreign Policy adviser to Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign (2006 to 2008); Center for American Progress, Senior Fellow (2004 to 2006)
Birthday: Dec. 2, 1969
Hometown: Stillwater, Minn.
Alma Mater: St. John's University (Minnesota); Georgetown University, M.A.
Spouse: N/A
Religion: N/A
Office: N/A
Email N/A
Web site
Path to Power
McDonough was a staffer on the House International Relations Committee from 1996 through 1999. He worked briefly for Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), but left his office in 2000 to join Daschle’s (D-S.D.) foreign policy team. He worked for Daschle until 2004, advising him on terrorism, AIDS and Middle East policy.
When Daschle lost his re-election bid, McDonough followed him to the Center for American Progress, a progressive think-tank. There he researched health care policy as a senior fellow and adviser to Daschle.
McDonough joined Obama’s presidential campaign as a top foreign policy aide. He supervised a team of 300 experts who were divided into sets of 20 teams based on regions and issues. McDonough also sat in on the 13-person meetings of senior campaign advisers, and was the prime facilitator of dialogue between the foreign policy team and Obama. When Mark Lippert, who was then the campaign’s top foreign policy adviser, was called up to serve in Iraq, McDonough took over.
After Obama was elected, McDonough was named head of strategic communications for the National Security Council. When NSC chief of staff Mark Lippert was once again called up to serve in Iraq, McDonough temporarily stepped in to serve as chief of staff.
The Issues
McDonough has argued for a common-good approach to foreign policy, saying that the U.S. must address problems like global warming and poverty by taking approaches that will benefit other countries as well as the United States. He has spoken in support of a cap-and-trade system and called on the U.S. to make a serious commitment to reducing greenhouse gases.
Iraq
McDonough opposed the Iraq war from the start and backs Obama’s efforts to withdraw troops slowly from the country, aiming to have all of them out in about 16 months.
He argues that Congress and the president failed to plan for the long-term impact of the Iraq war. He would like Obama’s administration to craft a thorough proposal that lays out what the U.S.’s specific role will be in Iraq over the next ten years.
Intelligence Oversight
While at the Center for American Progress, McDonough lobbied for reform of Congressional oversight of intelligence. He argued that Congress must pursue vigorous oversight of the 17 agencies because they operate in such secrecy, ensuring that the intelligence community is behaving constitutionally and lawfully while pursuing their aims effectively.
The Network
As a fellow at the Center for American Progress, McDonough has relationships with Obama transition co-chair and CAP head John Podesta, Neera Tanden and several other prominent Obama backers.
As a former chief of staff for Tom Daschle, McDonough is also a part of the growing list of Daschle alumnae that worked on the 2008 Obama campaign and appear headed for an Obama White House. Obama’s Senate chief of staff, Pete Rouse, is a a senior White House adviser, and Mark Lippert, who also worked for Daschle before becoming NSC chief of staff in the Obama administration.
McDonough was part of Obama’s inner foreign policy circle during the 2008 campaign along with Susan E. Rice, Gregory B. Craig, Anthony Lake, Richard Danzig and a few others.
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