At the bottom of an item about new responsibilities for war czar Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute of the National Security Council, the very-well sourced Laura Rozen writes of National Security Adviser Jim Jones:
Several sources have in recent weeks described Jones as having a problematic tenure at the NSC, a subject that no one there has wanted to discuss or would provide comment on. Jones had previously wanted to harmonize regional directorates to be consistent across the NSC, State Department, and the Defense Department, and he leaned towards both the NSC and State Department adopting the military's regional command structure. But the other departments did not want to reorganize their regional bureaus to conform with the military model. The promotion of Lute, a general, to have a Central Command type portfolio plus India would seem to be consistent with Jones' military-oriented outlook. Obama's style, sources said, seems far less hierarchical. Obama's preference, they described, is for a more wide-open process where he reaches out to seek the views of people at different levels regardless of their station.
Not sure whether there's more to the story about Jones fitting in with the rest of the national security principals. But Rozen, a careful journalist, seems to be hinting at trouble ahead.
According to Laura's blog and everything else I've heard, Denis McDonough is running the show. Jones appointment was good to placate the military and conservatives but the real power lies with McDonough who accompanied Obama everywhere on the campaign trail, now regularly addreses the press, and turns up in many more photos next to the President-a lot more than Jones anyway.