There is a tug of war going on inside President-elect Obama's transition team over who will become the next National Security Advisor. Obama apparently has his own preferred candidate, and his advisors have theirs.

Gen. James Jones, a retired Marine, is the "leading candidate" to serve in the national security post, ABC News reports. Jones led NATO and U.S. forces in Europe. James Steinberg, who served as deputy National Security Advisor under President Clinton, has also been considered. Steinberg is the dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas Austin. He previously served as a vice-president of the Brookings Institution where he was director of Foreign Policy Studies. He has a "great deal of support in the foreign policy community," the network says.

According to one ABC source, "Steinberg is supported by many of Obama's advisers, while Obama ardently supports Jones."

Obama has been consulting with Brent Scowcroft, the retired general who served as President H.W. Bush's National Security Advisor. "An appointment of a retired general to be National Security Adviser would be in the Scowcroft model," says ABC. Obama values Jones' advice and four decades of military service.

Current Defense Secretary Robert Gates is "likely to stay" in his position. Gates is a former president of Texas A & M University and C.I.A. director.