Following the resignation of Tom Donilon, the president’s top national security adviser, the White House announced Wednesday that former UN ambassador Susan Rice would be joining its foreign policy team as Donilon’s replacement.

The president publicly considered nominating Rice to succeed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in his second term, but she withdrew her name amid intense criticism stemming from an investigation into the deadly terror attack on a US compound in Benghazi. As the American ambassador to the UN during the September 11th, 2012 attack, she appeared on several political talk shows parroting intelligence information that was later discredited.

President Obama and Susan Rice
Credit: Reuters

“I am absolutely thrilled that she’ll be back at my side leading my national security team in my second term,” President Obama said of Rice, a longtime loyalist and close confidante.

The president will name Pulitzer-winning author Samantha Powers as Rice’s replacement at the United Nations, hinting that his foreign policy may place greater emphasis on human rights in his second term.

The selection of Rice as a national security adviser does not come as a surprise to many who expected her to have Donilon’s desk when he finally decided to part ways with the president, especially after her chances of heading the State Department were squashed by Republican critics. Donilon will likely stay on until July, after President Obama returns from two overseas trips and a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.