Barack Obama’s White House team is to undergo a crash course in how to handle terrorist attacks and international crises as part of rigorous efforts to prepare the new administration for early challenges in office.
The briefings and exercises on potential international alarms and security threats — the most comprehensive ever for any incoming officials — will include two days of hands-on training next January in which Cabinet officials will be questioned on dealing with potential disaster scenarios, including an attack that would wipe out the top tier of America’s political leadership.
Ken Wainstein, President Bush’s adviser on homeland security, told reporters the ”tabletop exercises” for incoming Cabinet officials were part of an initiative by Bush to ensure the United States does not drop its guard during the first post-9/11 transition of power.
Preparing for Obama’s takeover on January 20 has become an overriding preoccupation of both camps. Bush has pledged repeatedly to ensure a smooth handover. ”We care about [Obama],” he told CNN this week. ”We want him to be successful, and we want the transition to work.”
The Obama camp has praised the Bush administration for its cooperation.
White House officials on Wednesday cast those efforts as part of Bush’s mission to leave the US safer than it was at the time of the 9/11 attacks.
Senior administration officials have been deputed to conduct personal security briefings for their successors. The White House has issued dozens of memos setting out what it sees as problems awaiting the next president. Wainstein said he spent 30% to 40% of his time briefing the Obama camp on security issues.
The preparations extend to crafting up to a dozen possible responses to scenarios, from a nuclear explosion in North Korea to terrorists hacking US computer systems. These have been seen as a sign of the extraordinary efforts by Bush and Obama to ensure a smooth transition.
Obama can also expect more conventional early diplomatic challenges. On Wednesday the state department’s top arms control official, John Rood, said he believes the Russian government intends to ”test the mettle” of the Obama administration on missile defence and other issues.
Rood said Moscow had paused in anticipation of a new national security approach in Washington. But he said: ”My assessment is that the Russians intend to test the mettle of the new administration and the new president. The future will show how the new administration chooses to answer that challenge.”
Security experts concede that the transition period between election and inauguration could leave the US exposed to attack. Obama cited those dangers as a rationale for his drive to install his White House staff and Cabinet without delay.
Wainstein said there was no specific intelligence of an elevated threat. But the prospect that al-Qaeda or other organisations could exploit the transition period gave impetus to Obama’s efforts to roll out virtually his entire White House and Cabinet team at a swifter pace than any other president.
He announced his national security team on December 1. On Wednesday he rolled out the latest additions to his team at a press conference in Chicago, choosing the Colorado Senator, Ken Salazar, as his secretary of the interior, and former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack for secretary of agriculture.
However, there have been crucial gaps. Obama has yet to settle on a director of national intelligence or a CIA chief. The president-elect had to abandon his first choice for CIA chief, a former Bush administration official, because he had some oversight of the agency’s interrogation programme, including waterboarding.
Obama, more than previous presidents, has been determined to have his team up to speed with various government agencies before he assumes office on January 20. The contingency plans have been supplemented by in-house training for nearly 100 officials at the Department of Homeland Security, who will stay on until Obama’s appointees are in place.
A week after the election the Obama camp dispatched teams to government agencies to familiarise themselves with government programmes and potential problems.
Despite the overall appearance of a seamless transition, however, there have been hiccups. The Obama camp has been frustrated in its efforts to move ahead in closing down Guantánamo Bay, in part because the Bush administration has failed to hand over detainee case files, sources close to the transition said. — guardian.co.uk