Hillary Clinton as the next secretary of state will get to choose who the next special envoy to Northern Ireland will be.

One name circulating is that of former Congressman Bruce Morrison, who played a leading role in securing the critical IRA ceasefire in 1994. Morrison has been involved with the Irish peace process since the very beginning.

There is probably no one in America who has spent as much time on the issue as Morrison, who is highly regarded on all sides in the North.

The fact that he comes from a Protestant background may also make him more acceptable on the Unionist side where any opposition may surface.

Certainly, his ties to Clinton make him a natural for a role in her State Department, although he would not be an official employee. Rather, he would do the job part-time.

Morrison headed up the first Irish Americans for Clinton group way back in 1991, so he has certainly stayed the course with the Clintons throughout the past 17 years. Before that he was a Yale Law School classmate of Bill Clinton.

His selection would be no great surprise in that context.