Subject: RE: Memo to the Board for tomorrow's meeting
From: "Chris Lu" <[email-masked]>
To: "John Podesta" <[email-masked]>, "Melody Barnes" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:41:16 -0500

Here you go.  Let me know if I should send this to everyone:

MEMORANDUM                                                                                                              August 14, 2008

TO                          :               Transition Project Board                               

FROM                    :               John Podesta and Melody Barnes

SUBJECT               :               Meeting with Josh Bolten

                This memo will provide you with a summary of our meeting with Josh and other White House staff on Wednesday, August 13th.

General Information

                Bolten contacted both the Obama and McCain campaigns to initiate conversations about the transition process.  According to Bolten, their goal is to run a smooth process.  They met with Will Ball who leads the McCain effort, and they will confirm with the press that they requested meetings with both campaigns.  Bolten said they will be sensitive to the "presumptuousness" charge.    

                Blake Gottesman - Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations -- will be the point of contact for the White House.  The White House team consists of Bolten, Gottesman, Mike Farren (Dpty Counsel), Fred Fielding (Counsel), Ed Gillespie (Counselor to the President), Joie Gregor (Asst to President, Presidential Personnel), Clay Johnson (Dpty Dir, Management, OMB), and Joel Kaplan (Dpty Chief of Staff for Policy).  They requested a list of our team members, and John gave them our contacts for GSA, Personnel, Agency Review and National Security.  

                As a general matter, the White House is preparing a number of documents for transition.  Prior to the election, they will tell us which documents have been created (to prevent duplication of effort on our end) and in some cases, make the documents available for review at the White House (though some portions may be redacted).  They said the limitations are necessary to avoid triggering requirements to make the information available more broadly.  After the election, they will freely share information with the President-elect and his team.   They also told us there have been some congressional inquiries pertaining to the Transition (for example, Waxman's Oversight Committee).

                Anticipating the information that will be available to us (including budget - see below), we can make requests and should think about our list.  However, it's important to keep in mind that our requests will be conveyed to the McCain campaign and vice versa.  

                One issue for Chris Lu to consider and take steps to address:   helping the Transition Board get a handle on the implications the Intelligence Act of 2004 has on our work.    

 National Security

                Information was provided on a range of National Security issues:

·         Arrangements are being made for briefings after the convention and more expansive briefings after the election.  John requested additional intelligence clearances for Jim and Susan as the process already accounts for Denis and Mark.   This remains an open issue.

·         For briefing purposes, NSC is preparing  (1) a "world tour," (2) scenario-based information (specific hot spots) and (3) operational plans

·         Homeland security exercises are being prepared to share with our team during the transition period

·         John and Bolten discussed the point of contact for homeland security information - it will come from ODNI or NCTC, not Homeland Security.  

General Policy and Budget

                Information shared on general policy and budget issues:

·         The policy functions are preparing chronologies, timelines, 90 day critical paths and other key information (e.g., information about relevant Executive Orders).

·         Immediately after the election, an Administration team, including senior leaders, will be prepared to meet with and brief our budget team.  The Administration will prepare a skeletal current services plus specific needs budget.   

Personnel

                Information discussed regarding personnel:

·         Within 15 days of the Convention, OPM will provide a list of Presidential appointments and openings (consistent w/ the 2004 Intelligence Act).  Briefing books are being prepared with organizational charts and descriptions of the agencies and functions within the agencies

·         With Bolten and Gottesman, as well as the team that included Joie Gregor from Personnel, we discussed the technology issues.  Joie feels strongly that the current system is in bad shape and needs to be replaced.   John raised our desire to build/use a system that's compatible with the White House system or could be "gifted" to the White House.   Ideas that emerged from the conversation included:  both campaigns working with GSA to develop a system that could be deployed and the government could pay for on November 5th (avoiding expenditures on our end) or designing a system that could be gifted to the White House after inauguration.  Mike Farren of the Counsel's office is looking into various options  

·         The White House is very focused on working with us, the McCain campaign and the Senate to reach an agreement on an expedited confirmation process.  Their goal:  100 confirmations by the end of February.  To achieve the goal, they want OPM to share the clearance process, including the process for special clearances, with the FBI.   OPM has been doing this work, including all DoD career and contractor clearances.  Bolten also believes it's critical for all parties to agree which positions are in the 100; there's disagreement between Bolten and Clay Johnson who believes we'll never reach agreement on that issue.  Podesta believes they want to focus on Cabinet and National Security positions (potentially not being receptive to our senior level energy people, for example).  The White House wants to know who from our team will work on that issue - John said it would probably be Mike and he would also stay highly involved.    

·         The White House also asked our opinion on a process they've proposed for moving career diplomats.   In the normal course of business, rotations are due to occur.  The White House proposes that names be cleared but not nominated, and we can identify which of those positions we don't want to move through the nomination process - the others would be allowed to move forward.    This is probably OK, but we should check with Strobe.

Agency Review

                We were told the following:

·         The clearance process will allow us to connect directly with the FBI and our teams should be able to go into the agencies immediately after the election.   We asked when names had to go to the FBI to ensure this timetable, and we were told the White House is discussing that with the FBI now.   As we're able to base our requests on "need" and requests will be coming from both campaigns, the FBI is concerned about the number of names they'll be asked to clear.

 

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Chris Lu
Obama for America
312-505-4864 (cell)

________________________________

From: John Podesta [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Thu 8/14/2008 2:30 PM
To: Melody Barnes; Chris Lu
Subject: Re: Memo to the Board for tomorrow's meeting

I can't open this for some reason. Can you paste into an email.

On 8/14/08, Melody Barnes <[email-masked]> wrote:
> Chris
>
>
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> I don't know what other materials you're distributing to the Board for
> tomorrow's call, but would you circulate this one, too.
>
>
>
> Thanks so much,
>
> Melody
>
>
>
>
>
>

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