Obama names McDonough as new chief of staff

US President Barack Obama has named his current principal deputy national security adviser Denis McDonough as his new White House chief of staff.

Obama made the announcement on Friday, calling McDonough a hard worker whom nobody could outwork.

The US president also said that his 43-year-old aide had played a key role in all national security decisions made during his administration.

McDonough will replace Treasury Secretary-designate Jack Lew and replacing Mr. McDonough at the National Security Council will be Tony Blinken, the national security adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

McDonough joined the Obama administration after the 2008 presidential elections to serve as the National Security Council’s head of Strategic Communication and the National Security Council Chief of Staff.

He was then appointed to replace Thomas E. Donilon as Deputy National Security Advisor in October 2010.

McDonough is Obama’s latest move overhaul his national security team for his second term as the president of the United States.

He nominated Democratic Senator John Kerry to replace Hillary Clinton as the next Secretary of State in December 21, 2012.

Obama is also expected to nominate a new defense secretary to take over for retiring Leon Panetta and a new director of the Central Intelligence Agency to replace former spy chief David Petraeus, who resigned over an extramarital affair with his biographer.