Tuesday, December 02, 2008

U.S. Government Prepares for Transition

On Monday President-elect Barack Obama announced his national security team nominations: Senator Hillary Clinton for secretary of state; General James Jones, Jr., for national security advisor; Governor Janet Napolitano for secretary of homeland security; Susan Rice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Eric Holder, Jr., for attorney general; and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who will remain in his current position. See today's Chicago Tribune article on Obama's latest cabinet selections.

For those of you who would like to track the transition from a Bush administration to an Obama administration, there are plenty of interesting web pages and documents available directly from the U.S. government. The White House has a Transition website where you can find speeches and news releases from President Bush. Perhaps the most useful page on this website is Fact Sheet: Ensuring a Smooth and Effective Presidential Transition, which provides specifics about the president's Transition Coordinating Council and lists steps that specific agencies are taking to facilitate this transition.

Within the websites of specific government agencies, see a Statement by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on the Department’s Transition Efforts and Robert Gates' Insight Into Issues Facing Next Administration. In addition, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has created a report for Congress about the 2008-2009 presidential transition.

For additional resources on the presidential transition, UC Santa Barbara provides an excellent website on the 2009 Presidential Transition. If you need additional resources, see our guide to Presidents.

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