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Bush administration officials will host senior Obama officials for
a three-hour joint exercise next week that consists of “a hypothetical scenario
that is designed to test and tax the capabilities of the federal government.” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel declined to offer many details
about the exercise, but he did say that Tuesday’s exercise will be “a disaster
scenario where the government would be very much tested.”
The joint exercise is “intended to familiarize the incoming
administration with domestic and international instant management procedures
used by the current administration.”
Stanzel said the exercise is part of a realization that this is
the first transition since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the
exercises have been a regular occurrence within the current administration. The
spokesman noted that the exercise was in no way related to any credible threat
on the Inauguration, a threat Department of Homeland Security officials have
said they do not anticipate.
The exercise will follow a series of 90-minute orientations and
briefings with the president-elect’s team, Stanzel said.
On Friday, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten chaired the
fifth and final meeting of the transition coordinating council, Stanzel said,
which focused on the “operational details of the next two weeks, including
Inauguration-related security and logistics.”
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