Bush Readies Crisis Transition

If terrorists strike during the first few days of the Obama presidency, the White House will be ready: The Bush administration, in a rare burst of efficiency, has put together more than a dozen contingency plans to guide Obama in an early term crisis. The planning is “very unusual,” according to a former White House official. Part of the coordination: The Bush team has “invited Obama transition officials to attend a ‘national level exercise’ set for Jan. 12 and 13 that may play out what would happen if the top leadership of the nation were wiped out in a single stroke,” The New York Times reports. Bush himself told CNN a top priority as his term winds down is helping Obama: “We care about him. We want him to be successful, and we want the transition to work.”