The Best Minds of Kissinger's Generation, Starving Hysterical Naked

Henry Kissinger, right, traveled with Donald Rumsfeld to Beijing in 1974 but eyed him warily, newly released documents indicate. (The Washington Post)
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Chief of Staff-designate Rahm Emanuel's congressional chief of staff, Elizabeth Sears Smith, who was at the Commerce Department in the Clinton administration, was tapped to be deputy Cabinet secretary.

Shawn Maher, longtime aide to Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Dodd's staff director and general counsel on the Senate banking committee, got the nod to be deputy director for legislative affairs, working the Senate side. His counterpart on the House side will be Dan Turton, a longtime aide to former majority leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) and more recently staff director of the House Rules Committee.

Camille Johnston, who had been director of communications for Tipper Gore and more recently senior vice president for communications for the Los Angeles Dodgers, has been picked to be director of communications for incoming first lady Michelle Obama. Katie McCormick Lelyveld, who had been Michelle Obama's director of communications during the campaign, was tapped to be her press secretary. Semonti Mustaphi, who's worked communications for various Democratic senators and was deputy communications director for Michelle Obama during the campaign, is to move in as her deputy press secretary.

A New Obama-Clinton Divide?

At the State Department, Secretary-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton, as long expected, picked James B. Steinberg, who served as deputy national security adviser in Bill Clinton's administration, to be a deputy secretary for policy. She also picked Jacob Lew, who had been head of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton administration, as a deputy secretary for budget and resources -- a position never before filled. Looks as if career Foreign Service officer Bill Burns, now in the No. 3 spot as undersecretary for political affairs, will be staying on.

Seems the Hillary folks are tending to settle at Foggy Bottom, while the Obama folks appear to be settling at the National Security Council. For example, there's chatter that Kurt Campbell, who had been at the Pentagon in the Clinton administration as deputy assistant secretary for Asia-Pacific matters, was the choice to be assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs.

That would probably mean that former ambassador to Namibia Jeffrey A. Bader, formerly a senior official for Asia on the Clinton National Security Council and more recently the Obama campaign's top Asia hand, would return to the National Security Council to handle Asia matters.

Another former top Clinton State Department official, Wendy R. Sherman, is rumored to be returning to Foggy Bottom in a senior post, probably in another stint as counselor to the secretary.

Meanwhile, lawyer and former State Department chief of staff Thomas E. Donilon is to be deputy to National Security Adviser James L. Jones, while Tony Blinken, a longtime top foreign policy aide to Vice President-elect Joe Biden, will serve as Biden's national security adviser.

A Fine Choice

The Justice Department's internal watchdog won the National Law Journal's top honor Monday for targeting Bush administration actions that cast doubt on the department's political independence. Inspector General Glenn A. Fine was named "Lawyer of the Year." The newspaper said Fine's investigations into White House political meddling and mismanagement by former Justice officials has helped restore the fierce independence that was once the department's trademark.