Obama to decide who will replace Timothy Geithner and Hilary Clinton
Finding a new treasury boss and secretary of state top the agenda in reshuffle of top officials
US President Barack Obama now confronts two questions that he has been avoiding for more than a year: who will replace Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and when?
Obama's decision, probably among the first personnel moves he makes, may set in motion a revamping of his economic and national security team, according to four current and two former administration officials. Some advisers will depart and others will take on jobs that are opened up.
"The first thing is Treasury," said former White House chief of staff Bill Daley. "You kind of have to figure out that one before everything else."
After becoming only the second president since the second world war to win re-election with the unemployment rate above 6 per cent, Obama will be shuffling his cabinet and senior staff while negotiating with Congress to avoid US$607 billion in automatic tax increases and spending cuts that threaten to stunt US economic growth.
As well as replacing Geithner, Obama faces the departure of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has said she is not planning to serve in a second Obama term.
Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, at 74 the oldest Cabinet member, hasn't indicated if he'll stay, while US Trade Representative Ron Kirk has said he doesn't intend to serve in a second Obama administration.