Note: We’ll continue to update this thread as the president-elect reveals his plans for the Homeland Security Department. Secretary President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly offered the job to Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. The president-elect has reportedly picked Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano to head DHS. Napolitano still has to be vetted by Obama’s transition team; a spokesperson for the Arizona governor’s office declined to comment on the selection. She would take over a five-year-old agency that is plagued by organizational problems and struggles with many of its core missions, particularly immigration. The department has spent billions on a still-unproven “virtual fence”…
Browsing: Transition
CBO director Peter Orszag is the likely choice to head the Office of Management and Budget. The National Journal is reporting that President-elect Barack Obama will name Congressional Budget Office director Peter Orszag as director of the Office of Management and Budget. The OMB director will play a crucial role in the Obama administration, which inherits a $10 billion national debt and an annual deficit approaching $1 trillion. He will also be responsible for putting together Obama’s 2010 budget — and trying to push the 2009 budget through Congress before the current continuing resolution ends on March 6. Orszag has…
Turns out the historic inauguration celebration planned for President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20 has brought out the capitalist in many DC-area residents. With most hotel rooms already booked, many homeowners and renters in the nation’s capital are advertising their homes for rent for the festivities. As this story from the real estate website Urban Turf points out, going rates are steep. A 2,600-square-foot, three-bedroom condo about two miles from the White House is asking $10,000 for the week — double the monthly rent for a comparable property in the neighborhood. FedLine wonders if any federal employees are looking to get into…
It’s official: President-elect Barack Obama’s resigning his Senate seat effective this Sunday. Here’s Obama’s statement just e-mailed to the press from his transition team: It has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate.  In a state that represents the crossroads of a nation, I have met so many men and women who’ve taken different journeys, but hold common hopes for their children’s future.  It is these Illinois families and their stories that will stay with me as I leave the United States Senate and…
President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team yesterday announced a roster of 19 heavyweights who will conduct top-to-bottom reviews of federal agencies beginning next week. The agency review teams will complete a thorough review of departments, agencies and commissions to provide Obama and his advisers information need to make strategic policy, budgetary and personnel decisions prior to the Jan. 20 inauguration. As this press release  from the Obama transition Web site illustrates, most of the names should ring a bell to employees who were around during the previous Democratic administration under President Clinton. There’s Sally Katzen, who headed the Office of Information…
So last week we wrote that the General Services Administration was keeping quiet on where President-elect Obama’s transition headquarters was located. Apparently the D.C. traffic department didn’t get the memo that it was being left to the transition team to reveal the hideout. The District Department of Transportation released a detailed description of the location in a press release about traffic restrictions to protect the transition office. Here is what the DDOT had to say: D Street, NW between 5th and 6th is closed to vehicular traffic and parking is restricted. Northbound 6th Street St, NW, between Indiana Avenue and…
Last week you got to pick your new boss. Now the New York Times is letting you be the boss. The Times has posted an interactive feature that lets readers submit their selections for five major Cabinet posts: Defense Secretary, Secretary of State, Homeland Security Secretary, Attorney General and Treasury Secretary. It’s a lot of fun. Give it a whirl here. And don’t forget to tell us who you picked.
Rawhide. Eagle. Tumbler. And now Renegade. That last one is President-elect Barack Obama’s Secret Service code name, the Chicago Tribune said yesterday. The Secret Service has used code names to describe the officials, family members and other notable figures they are assigned to protect since President Truman was dubbed General. Sometimes they make sense — President Reagan was Rawhide, probably because he was sometimes described as a cowboy, and Pope John Paul II was Halo. Eagle, President Clinton’s code name, is OK, if somewhat generic for a president.
As if the fact the General Services Administration is supplying 120,000 square feet of office space to house the Obama transition team isn’t evidence enough of the scale of the event, FedLine has more numbers for you to chew on. The office space is outfitted with enough desks, computers, telephones, chairs and assorted other office supplies to support 500 people, said Gail Lovelace, GSA’s chief human capital officer, who is overseeing the transition. And Congress has appropriated $5.3 million to pay for it all. Lovelace said the exact location of the office is still being kept under wraps because the…
With his approval ratings at historic lows and the nation’s focus shifting to the incoming Obama administration, President Bush has a tough time garnering much attention these days. But hundreds of career and political employees who work at the Executive Office of the President gave Bush a rousing reception yesterday on the South Lawn of the White House. Flanked by his Cabinet and joined by First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President Cheney and Cheney’s wife Lynne, Bush congratulated Barack Obama for winning the election and urged federal employees to make the transition to a new administration as smooth as possible. Joking about his graying hair and First…