Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama is hiring retired Marine General James Jones as national security adviser to keep a team of strong-willed veteran policy makers working in harmony rather than at cross-purposes.

Jones, 64, is well-suited for the role of mediating among incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, holdover Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Vice President-elect Joe Biden, according to several people who know Jones well. They say the former NATO commander and Marine Corps commandant possesses the right combination of diplomacy and forcefulness to do the job.

``He's accustomed to leading,'' said retired Marine Major General Thomas Wilkerson, who got to know Jones during a 20-year period in the same service. ``He's accustomed to having people push on him and he'll push back. He doesn't suffer fools. He's very intense about getting things done.''

Among his key missions will be easing any residual irritation between Obama and Clinton over their Democratic primary rivalry and keeping Gates, who has mainly served Republican presidents, on board, several observers said.

It will ultimately be up to Obama to define the working environment for his national-security team and Jones's precise role within it.

``There's always the potential for friction when you have a new team trying to mesh together, especially when you have people with strong personalities and strong views,'' said Andrew Krepinevich, a former Army colonel and Pentagon official. ``It's really up to the president in his position as commander-in-chief to establish who's in charge and make that team work.''

Napolitano, Rice

Obama, 47, yesterday unveiled his national-security team, which will include Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary, Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador and Eric Holder as attorney general in addition to Clinton, Gates and Jones.

The announcement of his choices immediately triggered questions from reporters about how smoothly this collection of high-profile figures will function.

Obama acknowledged the validity of the issue, saying he ``assembled this team because I'm a strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions'' as the best protection against ``group think'' in the White House.

He added, ``I will be responsible for the vision that this team carries out, and I expect them to implement that vision once decisions are made.''

Translating this goal into reality will fall in large part to the 6-foot-4-inch Jones, according to former officials familiar with policy making.

`The Filter'

``It's a critical position,'' said retired Admiral William Fallon, who served as top U.S. commander in both the Pacific and the Middle East. The White House National Security Council, which Jones will head, ``sets the agenda, sets the tone and is the filter through which the various entities pass their views to the president,'' Fallon said in an interview.

Former Defense Secretary William Cohen, who hired Jones as his senior military aide, agreed. ``The job of the national security adviser is to reduce the amount of decision-making that has to go to the president in terms of resolving differences,'' Cohen said.

Both Cohen and Fallon said Jones is well equipped for the job. ``Jim is a very experienced Washington hand,'' Fallon said. ``He has a reputation as a guy who's very smooth and will try to keep things moving along, functioning with minimal friction.''

In the Field

Those habits were honed on military missions such as Operation Provide Comfort in 1991, an effort to save Kurdish refugees who had fled from Saddam Hussein's forces into frigid, mountainous northern Iraq. Retired Army General Jay Garner worked with Jones, who commanded Marines in the complex effort.

Jones excels at ``bringing things to debate rather than to confrontation,'' Garner said.

Among his challenges will be smoothing over any lingering discord between Obama and Clinton, who clashed frequently over their national-security capabilities while competing for the Democratic presidential nomination early this year.

Clinton, 61, belittled Obama's experience and knowledge of foreign affairs, saying his credentials consisted of nothing more than ``a speech he gave in 2002'' opposing the Iraq War.

Obama in turn disparaged Clinton's experience on the world stage as first lady, likening it to having tea with foreign leaders. In two memos during the campaign, Obama's then-foreign policy adviser Greg Craig, who has since been named his White House counsel, ridiculed Clinton's claims of foreign-policy experience in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Kosovo during the administration of her husband, Bill Clinton.

Situation Room

``She did not sit in on National Security Council meetings. She did not have a security clearance. She did not attend the Situation Room,'' Craig wrote on March 11.

Most of their substantive differences -- over whether to keep U.S. troops in Iraq as a bulwark against Iranian influence, to talk to dictators and adversaries without preconditions or to strike known terrorist targets in Pakistan -- disappeared once Obama secured the nomination.

Yesterday, Obama praised Clinton's credentials for the job of top diplomat and brushed aside questions about their campaign rhetoric, saying that ``during the course of the election season differences get magnified.''

In the case of Gates, Jones's main job will be to avoid any discord that might lead the defense secretary to consider quitting, Wilkerson said. Gates, 65, holds considerable leverage because of his strong relations with members of Congress and the uniformed military, and a premature departure would do serious damage to the new administration, he said.

`Company Man'

Cohen said he doesn't think that will be a serious problem. Gates, he said, ``is as much of a company man as you can get.''

Some previous national security advisers, such as Henry Kissinger, sought to expand the job's parameters by playing a substantial policy-making role, even if it meant clashing with the secretary of state and other officials.

Jones isn't likely to seek such a role, according to Krepinevich, Cohen and former Army General Jack Keane.

``In the military, it's the civilian leadership that's in charge and the uniformed military provides the options and the professional advice,'' Krepinevich said. ``That's the job that General Jones has filled at the highest levels.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Fireman in Washington at kfireman1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 2, 2008 00:01 EST