Denis McDonough, Obama's New Deputy National Security Adviser: 5 Key Facts

(Oct. 22) -- President Barack Obama announced today that he has appointed Denis McDonough as the next deputy national security adviser.

McDonough will report to Tom Donilon, who takes over from outgoing the national security adviser, retired Gen. James Jones. Surge Desk has compiled the following facts about McDonough, whom Obama praised as possessing "an extraordinary work ethic."

1. He's a longtime Obama adviser
Formerly a foreign policy adviser to Sen. Tom Daschle --as well as a legislative director for Sen. Ken Salazar -- McDonough first began working for Obama when the president was still in the Senate. From there, McDonough helped craft Obama's foreign policy message during the 2008 campaign as well as during the transition into office following his victory, and has worked for the administration ever since, The New York Times reported.

2. He worked for a left-leaning think tank
From 2004 to 2006, McDonough was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, which was founded by John D. Podesta, Bill Clinton's former chief of staff. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, McDonough has advocated on behalf of a host of liberal causes, such as instituting a cap-and-trade system to help curb greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming, as well as increasing aid to developing countries.

3. He was a key player behind Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan
In December 2009, Obama announced he was sending 30,000 more troops to fight in Afghanistan, a move that was recommended by McDonough, The Washington Post reported. Dubbed the "mini-surge" for mirroring the troop escalation in Iraq, but with smaller numbers, McDonough told CNN in March that the White House plan was to begin decreasing the number of soldiers in Afghanistan in the coming year.

"The surge is, in fact, on target," McDonough said. "There's about 10,000 of our guys there. We're going to -- there are obviously -- the president ordered an additional 30,000 there. And that surge then will continue through the course of this year, into the summer of 2011."

4. He led the official U.S. response to the Haiti earthquake in the initial stages
Obama first learned of the Haiti earthquake through McDonough, whom he then dispatched to Port-au-Prince. According to ABC News, besides the United States, the country McDonough has spent the most time in is Haiti, having often visited there as part of his duties as a staff member of the House International Relations Committee.

5. He has been called the "Irish-American closest to the president"
Described as "deeply Catholic," McDonough comes from a family of Irish immigrants who lived in South Boston before moving to Minnesota. Two of his 10 siblings are priests, the Irish Times reported, and while at Georgetown, McDonough wrote part of his thesis on the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Of his relationship with the president, McDonough told the the Times the following:

I provide my advice to him in private and I can tell you that there's a lot of times when I provide advice that he ignores. The American people have an expectation that you will keep them safe. The president understands and takes that expectation very seriously. What we're not going to do is stand up and brag about that fact. We do it every day. So we'll just keep doing it. ... It's the determined Irishman in me.

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