Some national-security officials worry about the appointment of Jim Jones to be Barack Obama’s national-security adviser. There are so many Jim Joneses here that keeping things flowing to the right one could be a challenge.

To begin with, there is the former congressman Jim Jones. From 1973 until 1987, he represented Tulsa in the House and became the powerful head of its budget committee. He gave up his seat in a losing Senate run, became ambassador to Mexico, and now chairs a foreign-policy think tank. Like the first Jim Jones, he went to Georgetown and served in the military.

Almost as well known is lawyer/lobbyist Jim Jones, the six-foot-six former managing partner at Arnold & Porter, who hails from Texarkana. Lawyer Jones is an inch taller and about the same age as the new national-security adviser, who was born in Kansas City. The taller Jones is now managing director of Hildebrandt International, a company that provides law-firm consulting services.

Less likely to cause confusion is the mass murderer of Jonestown, as that Jim Jones died in 1978. Also unlikely to be mistaken for a general is the rapper Jim Jones, who appeared in the recent movie Righteous Kill with Robert DeNiro. This Jones was a member of a hip-hop group called the Diplomats.

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This article first appeared in the January 2009 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here.

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