President Obama names two new aides to top White House posts

Vice President Joe Biden shows members of his staff, Shailagh Murray and Bruce Reed, something amusing before beginning their staff meeting in the Vice President's office at the White House on Wednesday April 3, 2013. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

President Obama has tapped an aide to Vice President Biden to become his new senior adviser, filling a top position in the West Wing in the final stretch of his presidency.

Shailagh Murray, a former Washington Post reporter who joined the administration in 2011 as Biden's communications director, will step into the opening left when longtime Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer left the White House this month. Murray worked at the Washington Post from 2005-2011, covering fiscal policy and national security issues. She also covered Congress and politics for the Wall Street Journal.

In a statement, Obama said he has relied on Murray's "strategic advice and keen ability to cut through the Washington noise to focus on what matters to everyday Americans."

The president also officially announced his appointment of Jason Goldman, a former Twitter and Google executive, to a newly created role as the White House's chief digital officer. In that role, Goldman will oversee the Office of Digital Strategy to "more effectively connect with the American people and people around the world about our policies and procedures," the White House said.

Goldman served as the head of product at Twitter from 2007-2010, and he later co-founded a company to finance technology companies Medium and Branch. The White House has experimented with publishing on various media platforms, including releasing the president's State of the Union address on Medium for the first time in January.

Politico first reported the new appointments Tuesday.