DHS, Pentagon plan for transition of power

The Bush administration and the two major presidential campaigns are beginning an unprecedented effort to prevent the transfer of power in January from disrupting defense and counterterrorism efforts. The Wall Street Journal’s Yochi Dreazen and Siobhan Gorman write that the Obama and McCain campaigns are working to compile lists of potential nominees for dozens of national-security and counterterrorism positions so would-be policy makers can be vetted and confirmed as quickly as possible. Given the inevitable gaps, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked senior Pentagon officials to be prepared to stay in their jobs for the first few months of 2009. The Obama campaign has endorsed the idea. Obama aides say the Illinois senator is considering asking Gates to stay as defense chief if he is elected. At DHS, career officials have been assigned to the No. 2 posts in critical areas so they can step in when political appointees leave. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell is forming a transition office and some of his senior aides have talked privately about staying on temporarily if requested.

“Barack Obama agrees that we will need to expedite transition in this wartime environment,” said Denis McDonough, the Democratic candidate’s senior foreign-policy adviser. “It will mean expediting the appointment and confirmation of his national security team and maintaining some personnel in slots where necessary and appropriate.” The push reflects the challenges posed by the first wartime political transition in more than forty years and fears of a possible terrorist strike or major crisis in Iraq or Afghanistan during the next president’s first months in office. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and DHS have never been through a transition. The effort is designed to avoid the power vacuums that usually accompany a shift in administration.