U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, right, and Sen. Hillary Clinton leave the stage following a press... 
(Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
Obama's national security lineup also includes Susan Rice as United Nations ambassador, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and Eric Holder as attorney general.
It is a mix of people from very different political orbits who hold divergent views on national security but all are steeped in experience.
Holder and Rice both worked in the administration of Bill Clinton, although Rice was also an early backer of Obama's candidacy.
Jones is an old friend of Obama's defeated Republican rival, Sen. John McCain -- as Marine liaison to Capitol Hill in the 1970s, he was nominally McCain's subordinate as Navy liaison -- and he appeared at least once with McCain at a campaign stop.
Gates was hired by President Bush and disagreed with Obama over the strategy of sending more troops to Iraq for the surge that helped quell much of the violence over the past year.
And Clinton famously clashed with Obama for months during their head-banging primary battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The new team will have until Jan. 20 to put their differences aside and form a cohesive team to defend the nation.
Clinton brings all the credentials and the baggage of her years as a senator and first lady in her husband's administration, as well as Bill Clinton's current globe-trotting philanthropy and fundraising.
In naming Clinton, Obama reached out to a former rival whom he'd battled with during the Democratic primaries. He used her introduction to also take a swipe at Bush's foreign policy that left many of the country's alliances strained.
"Hillary's appointment is a sign to friend and foe of the seriousness of my commitment to renew American diplomacy and restore our alliances," Obama said.
Obama and Clinton clashed over various foreign policy issues during the primaries, particularly Obama's willingness to talk with foreign leaders hostile to the United States. And the Republican National Committee dug out some of its campaign research today to draw up a long list of policy issues on which Obama and Clinton have disagreed.
But today Obama dismissed efforts by the press to resurrect their criticisms of each other, telling one questioner, "I understand you're having fun."
He added, "I think she is going to be an outstanding secretary of state."
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
