WASHINGTON —  In an Associated Press telephone interview shortly after President-elect Barack Obama announced that James L. Jones will be his national security adviser, Jones discussed his new role.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q: How will you fit with Hillary Rodham Clinton, Robert Gates and other members of the Obama national security team?

A. "Some of them I know better than others. For instance, I know Secretary Gates, I know Senator Clinton pretty well. And I've spent some time with the president-elect. I know the vice president-elect very well. So we're not starting from a completely clean slate. ... We're off to a good start."

Q. Have you sorted out your exact role as the president's adviser on national security issues?

A. "I've not spent a whole lot of time on it up to this stage because I figured we should make sure this (appointment) was going to happen before we did anything. Now we're there and we'll get to work and see if we can create the next edition of the NSC (National Security Council) in a format that will be most helpful to our new president."

Q. Will it be your job to create consensus on the national security team?

A. "I think it is. I've always felt that the more senior I got, even in the military, the more important is the art of making people feel like they own part of the problem and also part of the solution. Raising consensus is important. At the end of the day, when you need a decision you need to be able to go to the boss and say, `OK, here is how things line up and here are the options and here's my recommendation and what do you want to do?'"

Q. Do you think the Obama administration intends to be more pragmatic and less ideological than its predecessor?

A. "I don't know where ideology ends and pragmatism begins, but I do concur with the tenor and tone completely of how this was laid out and how this team could and should work and will work. Everybody around the table understood that, I think, ... that cohesion is important, that teamwork is important and we all know who is going to make the decision on the tough ones. So we have to build a national security apparatus that supports being able to make those decisions efficiently and appropriately and in a timely way in relation to what's going on in the world. National security is a broader portfolio in the 21st century than just the National Security Council, the State Department and the Defense Department. It's got to include energy. ... So I think the breadth is going to widen and we'll try to put together a National Security Council team that reflects that new reality."

Q. Is the decision to keep Robert Gates as defense secretary a positive move for Iraq policy?

A. "I think continuity is good. You've got a new president. You've got two wars going on simultaneously (and) the country in its largest economic challenge since the Great Depression. There's an awful lot going on. So if he's comfortable, as he should be _ and I know that he is _ then this is a good thing to do."

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