By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2009 - President Barack Obama will spend part
of his first full day in office today meeting with his National
Security Council, including Pentagon and military leaders with direct
responsibility for operations in Iraq.
Obama is slated to meet at the White House late this afternoon with
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates; Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander
of U.S. Central Command, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told
reporters.
“The president running up to his inauguration yesterday … made it
clear this was one of the important items on his agenda, and he would
be meeting with the commanders soon,” Whitman said. “This is a logical
first step, meeting with the secretary and the chairman and field
commanders and the combatant commander.”
The president is expected to meet in the near future with the Joint
Chiefs, but no date has yet been set for that session, Whitman said.
Whitman emphasized Gates’ longstanding policy of providing
opportunities for his senior military staff and commanders to provide
input to the president directly.
Obama, who campaigned on bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq, told
service members and their families during last night’s Commander in
Chief’s Inaugural Ball that he’ll have no greater honor or
responsibility than serving as their commander in chief.
“Right now, as we gather here in Washington, we are sobered by the
knowledge that we have troops in all corners of the world, many of them
in harm’s way,” the president said. “We are fighting two wars. We face
dangerous threats to our security. We depend on the men and women of
our armed forces to keep us safe.”