By Josh Gerstein & Abby Phillip
To many in the foreign policy community, Tom Donilon’s selection Friday [CAF Note: October 8] as national security adviser to President Barack Obama was a deserving reward for a consummate professional, a corporate lawyer who worked his way up through the foreign policy ranks over the years and is credited with holding the National Security Council together during the uncertain leadership of James Jones.
But one part of Donilon’s résumé that went unmentioned in the Rose Garden Friday — the six years he spent as a top executive of Fannie Mae at the height of the housing boom — made him a problematic choice for any Obama administration job that requires Senate confirmation.