WASHINGTON —  President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be national security adviser is a Vietnam war veteran who rose to become a Marine four-star general and NATO commander, but is at least as well known for his diplomatic skills.

Gen. James L. Jones advised both Obama and Republican presidential candidate John McCain during the campaign on national security issues. Last year he led a commission that advised Congress on progress in training Iraqi security forces.

"Jones works friendly until friendly doesn't get it done anymore," said retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who first met him during a 1991 humanitarian relief operation in northern Iraq. "And then you're dealing with a great big guy you really don't want to be on the opposite side of."

The 6' 5" Jones, who grew up in Paris and is fluent in French, became commandant of the Marine Corps in 1999 and served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 2003, he was briefly a candidate to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs under then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but declined to be interviewed for the job out of antipathy for Rumsfeld's management style, Bob Woodward reported in his book "State of Denial."

Most generals who hold the commandant's job retire from it, but Jones parlayed it into Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the military chief of NATO, in 2003. From there he agitated behind the scenes for the service and combatant command chiefs to push back against Rumsfeld's policies, and derided the coming war with Iraq as "a debacle," Woodward reported.

He reportedly declined the chance to head U.S. Central Command in 2006, again ruffled by Rumsfeld's dictatorial management style.

Jones left the military in 2007 after 40 years in uniform. He is now president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy, an effort designed to pull energy producers and policymakers behind a strategy to secure U.S. energy supplies. He also sits on the board of The Boeing Co., and chairs the Atlantic Council, an international affairs think tank.

Jones has at least one more thing going for him that should endear him to Obama White House: He was a forward on Georgetown's basketball team.

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