First and Focused - College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's University

BEHiND THE PiNES
McDonough ’91: “The Adviser at the Heart of National Security”
When President Obama makes national security decisions, he calls upon a tight inner circle of advisers. One
man is so close to President Obama that the president “often will not make a move on big issues without checking
with him first,” according to a New York Times profile of Denis McDonough ’91, the National Security
Council’s chief of staff (“The Adviser at the Heart of National Security”, Helene Cooper, July 9, 2010).
McDonough is known in Washington for communicating quickly and tersely, reports Cooper, taking people
to task when the president’s thoughts are misrepresented. “People need to have someone watching their back,”
says David Rothkopf, a national security expert and Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration.
“I understand why people are bugged by McDonough; they’re jealous of his access to the president. But the
president deserves to have someone like him.”
McDonough’s colleagues agree. “It’s a big asset for all of us to have Denis, who has known the president for so
long,” says Gen. James L. Jones, the national security adviser. “He knows how he thinks about the issues.”
To read the article, go to nytimes.com/2010/07/10/world/10mcdonough.html.
Fr. Bob Koopmann ’68, oSB, president of Saint John’s University, and MaryAnn Baenninger, president of the College of Saint Benedict, had lunch with
national Security Council Director, Denis McDonough ’92, at the White House when visiting Washington for an alumni event last February. Afterward
McDonough arranged for them to meet President Barack obama in the oval office.
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Denis McDonough ’91