Obama Starts Work ‘In Transition’
Current World News Comments (0)
3:26pm UK, Thursday November 06, 2008
Barack Obama will receive his first highly classified briefings from intelligence officials later, as he enters the transition period which will see his administration put in place.
Barack Obama walks to his car following a day of meetings with staff in Chicago
The briefings normally last for 45 minutes to an hour but the President-elect’s initial one is expected to be longer, to allow him to plan for the challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Obama’s transition is already well under way, with reports that he has chosen former top Clinton aide Rahm Emmanuel to be his right-hand man as White House chief of staff.
He has been given an official transition office in Washington and some key members of the transition team are in place, as they look to build an administration before his inauguration on January 20.
The project is being headed by John Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton, Pete Rouse, who was Mr Obama’s Senate chief of staff and close friend Valerie Jarrett.
Former presidential candidate John Kerry and billionaire Warren Buffet have been mentioned as possible cabinet candidates.
The transition team is studying how previous presidents made the move between winning an election and taking the reins of power.
But as he prepares to take his place as the 44th US president, the threats to Mr Obama’s safety are being kept firmly in mind.
He and his family – as well as Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his family – are under 24-hour guard by squads of elite, heavily-armed Secret Service agents.
He was accompanied by an armed convoy as he travelled to a gym in Chicago the morning after his historic victory.
Newspapers and TV networks have also started to discuss the huge sheets of bullet proof glass that surrounded him as he made his acceptance speech in Chicago’s Grant Park.
There are claims that the barriers were so heavy they had to put in place by cranes.
Outgoing President George W Bush promised “complete co-operation” with the Obama camp as they prepare to move into the White House.
He has also invited Mr Obama to visit him at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as soon as possible.
Future First Lady Michelle Obama is also expected to visit Laura Bush after an invite was extended during a phone call between the pair.
admin @ November 6, 2008