Vulnerabilities During Presidential Transitions continued
CRS Report to Congress
Granted, the United States has passed through the presidential transition period since this paper was written. Nevertheless, John Rollins’ paper offers excellent material for national security experts to consider for future transitions.
This reading supports the podcast interview with Mr. Rollins.
In a 2008 C-SPAN interview Frances Townsend, former homeland and counterterrorism advisor to President Bush said,
“I worry about the period of vulnerability between the time we have nominees for each party through and just after the inauguration of a new President. I think that’s a particular period of vulnerability, because of what we know about Al Qaeda’s attempts to influence the elections in Spain. We’ve seen the attacks after Gordon Brown took over as Prime Minister in the U.K. We see in the 2004 election where they were issuing videos days before the election, including bin Laden talking about the streets in the United States running with blood. We know from their history that Al Qaeda wants to influence elections and have political influence.”
The United States has been through the first presidential transition since 9/11 and the new administration has been in office for about one year. Transitions between administrations/”governments” are typically periods of concern to national security experts, not only in the United States. We have made it through the entire “transition period”, as defined by John Rollins, without incident. Was that because of proactive measures taken by both the outgoing Bush Administration and the incoming Obama Administration?
Without question, President Obama will face numerous homeland defense and security challenges in the years ahead. The enemies of the United States will continue to plan to take action counter to the nation’s security interests. The Obama Administration’s recognition and response to these threats and challenges will depend heavily on the preparations the national security team has completed since assuming office.
While it may be impossible to stop an incident of national security significance during a presidential election process, there are steps that can be taken during all phases of the transition to lessen the risks to the nation. Such actions may be helpful in preparing the nation for possible risks to the presidential election process, as well as mitigating the effects of acts taken by those that wish to disrupt and influence the transfer of presidential power. The transition-related actions or inactions of either the outgoing or incoming administrations may have a long-lasting affect on new president’s ability to effectively safeguard the national interests of the United States. (Rollins, 2008, p. 36)
John Rollins takes us through his five-phased transition period of: campaigning by presidential candidates; selection of the party nominees; election day; post-election day to the inauguration; and the inauguration and placement of the new executives. Mr. Rollins offers national security considerations and options for each phase of the transition.
Click here to access the report. Read pages 1-36.