Tales from the Trail

On the same day he unveiled a review of his Afghanistan war strategy, President Barack Obama moved to bolster the White House national security team, which has been short-staffed after a series of changes.

Obama tapped Brooke Anderson, currently part of the U.S. mission to the United Nations, as chief of staff and counselor for the National Security Council.

An expert on nuclear nonproliferation, Anderson is ambassador and alternate representative for special political affairs at the UN.

She advised Obama’s campaign, helping to set up his July 2008 trip to Europe and the Middle East, and then was a spokeswoman on national security matters during Obama’s presidential transition.

At the NSC, she replaces Denis McDonough, who was promoted to deputy national security adviser. McDonough assumed his new role after Tom Donilon succeeded Gen. James Jones in the top job at NSC.

President Barack Obama’s longest-serving foreign policy aide, Mark Lippert, is leaving the White House to serve as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy.

Lippert, a 36-year-old Navy reservist and Iraq war veteran, will leave his job as chief of staff for the White House National Security Council to return to active duty, a White House statement said.

The White House did not say where Lippert would be deployed.

Lippert’s departure was described in some media accounts as a “shakeup” but White House sources said he would be back after his service is up in six to nine months.