Obama Gets Presidential-Style Security Briefings

This news updete by www.zeenews.com


Washington: As Barack Obama moves to put in place a transition team to take over from the Bush administration, President-elect on Thursday got the first presidential-style security briefings.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell gave the President-elect the first national security briefings, which is privy only to the US President.

The presidential-style security briefing, which is exclusively for the American head of state, will detail not only the threat perceptions but also the various responses, including special operations that are currently under way in different parts of the world.

The details of the Obama-McConnell meeting will not be made public as is always the case by ways of intelligence briefings to President George W Bush.

It is learnt that Mike Hayden, Director of Central Intelligence Agency, has informed top officials that the US intelligence agency would start sharing classified information with the president-elect during the transition phase. It would include the full range of capabilities deployed by the United States.

The new administration, which will take office on January 20, faces enormous security challenges both at home and abroad as it prepares to take over from the Bush presidency.

Russian-American ties have been strained, particularly over Moscow's war with US ally Georgia and Washington's move on missile shield in Poland and Czech Republic.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday announced the deployment of short-range missiles in an area of western Russia wedged between Lithuania and Poland, in response to US plans to site missile defence bases in eastern Europe.



Via news