Subject: another transition article
From: "Chris Lu" <[email-masked]>
To: "Chris Lu" <[email-masked]>, "Adam Hitchcock" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], "Valerie Jarrett" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], "Pete Rouse" <[email-masked]>, "Melody Barnes" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], "Jim Steinberg" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked],
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked], "Jayne Thomisee" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], "Katie Johnson" <[email-masked]>, "Elizabeth Utrup" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked], "Phil Schiliro" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:41:56 -0500

Not even sure how to react to this article, since there's almost nothing
in here that's accurate. 

Daily Telegraph:
Barack Obama's team is briefed by Bush staff on after warnings about a
terrorist attack 
Senior aides to Barack Obama have been meeting George W.Bush's staff to
begin planning a smooth transfer of power. 

By Tim Shipman in Washington 
Last Updated: 9:26PM BST 18 Oct 2008

Officials from both campaigns have been asked to briefings after
warnings from US intelligence that terrorists and rogue states will seek
to exploit the power vacuum following November's presidential election.

For the first time in American history the FBI has begun vetting likely
officials of the next administration before the election, to ensure they
have security clearance to deal with crises on day one.

Intelligence chiefs expect an attempt to emulate the terrorist strikes
on Britain when Gordon Brown took power and are concerned that Russia or
Iran could use the 77 days of paralysis between the election and the
inauguration on January 20 for acts of international brinkmanship, like
the invasion of Georgia.

An official involved in the transition discussions told The Sunday
Telegraph: "There has been no specific threat but the assessment is that
someone will try something.

"It could be a terrorist attack on US assets overseas. It could be the
leader of a rogue state chancing his arm. Putin and Ahmadinejad have
form."

The transition of power in the US is a chaotic process. More than 1,100
political appointees in senior posts have to be approved by the Senate,
a process that can take months.

On Wednesday the current White House chief of staff, Josh Bolten,
chaired a meeting of senior White House staff and representatives of
both Mr Obama and his Republican rival John McCain.

President Bush's creation of this Presidential Transition Coordinating
Council, the earliest ever, is designed to avoid a repeat of the
situation on September 11 2001, when only one third of his national
security appointees had been approved by the Senate, nine months into
his presidency.

Martha Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project, an
independent group that advises the transition teams of both campaigns,
told The Sunday Telegraph: "The times of changing of power are soft
times, times of vulnerability. Just look at what has happened around the
world, including in Great Britain.

"You had the failed bombings in London and then the attack at Glasgow
airport three days after Gordon Brown took office. In Spain the Madrid
bombings were three days before the presidential election."

There have been particularly intensive efforts to make sure Mr Obama has
his national security team in place, not just because he is widely
expected to win the election on November 4, but because intelligence
analysts believe America's enemies are more likely to try to take
advantage of Mr Obama's international inexperience than they would of Mr
McCain.

A senior official in the Obama camp, whose name has been submitted for
FBI vetting, said: "We will be ready and we will be seen to be ready."

He said that Mr Obama is close to finalising plans for his first 100
days in power - which will include major moves on the economy,
healthcare and Iraq in his first week, designed to make his priorities
clear to Americans.

He is planning a series of early interventions to stamp his authority on
the economic crisis. This will include legislation proposing a $300bn
stimulus package which would be published before President Bush has even
left the White House, so that it can be passed as soon as he takes
power.

Mr Obama is also planning executive orders that do not require
legislation on his first day in office, which could include plans to
promote renewable energy resources and create jobs.

His transition team, which is reportedly much more extensive and active
than Mr McCain's, features 10 working groups in different policy areas
to convert campaign promises into concrete legislation. It is chaired by
John Podesta, Bill Clinton's former White House chief of staff who runs
the Centre for American Progress, a think tank long seen as a Democratic
administration in exile.

Mr Podesta is working closely with Michael Signer, a former foreign
policy aide to John Edwards in charge of homeland security affairs. Mr
Podesta and Jason Furman, one of Mr Obama's two most influential
economic advisers, have already held talks with sceptical conservative
Democrats to line up the votes to pass a stimulus package.

Mr Obama has also worked to cultivate a close relationship with the
Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, and personally asked him to help out
during the transition, sparking speculation that he might keep Mr
Paulson in post for the first year of his presidency.

Ms Kumar said: "There are things that a president can do immediately
that establish his brand of leadership and help establish with the
public what the priorities are.

"Reagan issued executive orders at the luncheon following the
inauguration. He didn't even wait to get to the White House. He wanted
to show how seriously he took the issue of the economy."

FBI vetting is also under way on 100 people from both campaigns,
including Susan Rice, expected to be made the second successive black
woman national security adviser after Condoleezza Rice; Greg Craig, a
Washington lawyer tipped to become Mr Obama's chief White House counsel
and his likely White House chief of staff; and the former senator and
campaign chairman Tom Daschle. If Daschle prefers to become Health
Secretary, Obama's current chief of staff Pete Rouse, nicknamed the
101st Senator for his connections on Capitol Hill, would take the job.

Other key national security officials will include Denis McDonough,
chief foreign affairs adviser to the campaign and Richard Danzig, a
secretary of the Navy under Clinton.

John Kerry, the Democratic candidate four years ago, and his fellow
senator Chris Dodd, a failed candidate this year, are vying to become
Secretary of State.

Mr Kerry, an Army veteran, is also a contender to take control of the
Pentagon, but many expect that post to go to a Republican, perhaps the
maverick senator Chuck Hagel. Colin Powell, a former secretary of state
and chairman of the joint chiefs could return to government if he
endorses Obama, as many expect. The veteran Democratic Senator Sam
Nunn's name is also in the frame.