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It was only a drill

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor January 13, 2009 03:24 PM

One of the biggest fears during the transition of power in Washington is a terrorist attack, so today senior officials in the Bush administration and the incoming Obama administration gathered at the White House today to rehearse what to do.

During the drill, they responded to an attack on a US city in which transportation facilities and other targets are hit with explosive devices.

"Whether we're Democrats or Republicans, we will have our policy differences," Rahm Emanuel, Obama's incoming chief of staff, told reporters outside the White House, according to the Associated Press. "There is no policy difference when it comes to protecting the American people."

President-elect Barack Obama's team released the list of participants in the exercise: retired General Jim Jones, National Security Advisor-designate; Admiral Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence-designate; Governor Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security-designate; Tim Geithner, Secretary of Treasurer-designate; Lisa Jackson, Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency-designate; Senator Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior-designate; retired General Eric Shinseki, Secretary of Veterans Affairs-designate; Governor Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture-designate; Rahm Emanuel, incoming White House Chief of Staff; John Brennan, Homeland Security Adviser and Deputy National Security Advisor for Counterterrorism- designate; Rand Beers, Counselor to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; David Axelrod, incoming White House Senior Adviser; Jim Messina, incoming White House Deputy Chief of Staff; Robert Gibbs, incoming White House Press Secretary; representatives from the Office of the Vice President-elect, and senior executive branch staff including representatives from Health and Human Services, Justice, Office of Management and Budget, and the State Department.

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