Susan Rice, U.S.’ Ambassador to the United Nations, will replace Tom Donilon as National Security Advisor, according to officials speaking to media here.
Ms. Rice’s prospective appointment comes after a storm of controversy over her televised response to an attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 2012 compelled her to pull out of the race for the Secretary of State nomination.
Four Americans killed including Ambassador Chris Stevens were killed in the attack.
White House officials said on Wednesday despite Republicans fiercely resisting President Barack Obama’s initial pick for the senior-most State Department role, he would be announcing Ms. Rice’s nomination as NSA.
He would also announce that Samantha Power (42), a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Harvard professor specialising in human rights and former White House adviser, will be replacing Ms Rice at the U.N., officials added.
Last December, Ms. Rice withdrew her name from the list of potential candidates in the reckoning for the Secretary of State position after Republican Senators including John McCain and Lindsey Graham accused her of having intentionally misled the American people on the cause and nature of the Benghazi attack.
In particular, they targeted Ms. Rice’s suggestion that the events in Libya were inspired by an anti-Islam video and were not an act of terror. Last month the White House released 100 pages of emails detailing “how the administration formulated talking points to describe the attack,” specifically showing that numerous government agencies influenced the final talking points that Ms. Rice used, and that Ms. Rice herself exercised no role in that process.
While Republicans are likely to have blocked Ms. Rice’s appointment as Secretary of State, her elevation now does not require Senate confirmation. As it stands, she is likely to assume responsibilities from Mr. Donilon in early July, when he steps down after serving for more than four years, reports quoted a White House official saying.
After news of her likely appointment broke Senator McCain tweeted, “Obviously I disagree w/ POTUS appointment of Susan Rice as Nat’l Security Adviser, but I’ll make every effort to work w/ her on imp’t issues.”
Ms. Rice is not new to controversy though. Even as the large-scale massacre of Tutsis by Hutus unfolded in Rwanda in April 1994, reports actually quoted Ms. Power saying that Ms. Rice’s advice to the Clinton White House “was to avoid any public recognition that actual genocide was being committed, because to do so would legally require the U.S. to take action, and this might affect upcoming congressional elections”.
