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White House transition council holds first meeting

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The newly created Presidential Transition Coordinating Council met at the White House for the first time Wednesday, while Vice President Gore dropped by the Oval Office to visit briefly with his boss, President Clinton.

The council, chaired by White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, includes an array of White House officials and cabinet heads, including the directors of FBI, Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration.

Siewert
White House Press Secretary Jake Siewert  

"It's essentially the first organizing meeting of this council to prepare for a smooth transition," said Jake Siewert, White House press secretary.

Moving along 'parallel tracks'

President Clinton issued an executive order Monday, establishing the council to focus on the administration's transition efforts.

"We'll be trying to determine which agencies have which responsibilities, identify areas for improvement to assess the work that we've already done and some of the work that's going on, run through reports from the various agencies and what the next steps are," said Siewert.

Siewert also said the administration's preparations for the transition are "proceeding on parallel tracks... giving both teams an opportunity to hear where we are and what we're doing."

Texas Gov. George W. Bush will begin receiving daily intelligence briefings, just as the vice president currently receives, possibly as early as next week, Siewert said.

Podesta will also be meeting with Andrew Card, the chief of staff-designate for a Bush administration, and with Roy Neel, who is leading the vice president's transition efforts.

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Podesta offered to have both men attend a meeting together, or hold separate meetings, Siewert said. No decisions about the makeup of the meetings or dates have been set yet, he added.

"We expect they'll happen in the near future. And give them all a chance to hear where we are, where we're planning on going," said Siewert.

Finally, Podesta sent around a memo to White House staff, asking them, as is customary at the end of administrations, to submit letters of resignation.

"That gives the new president, whoever he is, maximum flexibility in determining how best to allocate, make their staffing decisions," said Siewert.

Meanwhile, the vice president spent some time in his West Wing office Wednesday, lunched with his running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman, and members of his transition team. He later dropped by the Oval Office for a brief visit with the president.

Siewert described the meeting as "informal" and said no staffers attended. A White House spokeswoman believed it was the first time the two men met face to face since the vice president attended national security briefings following the terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole in October.

FBI background checks on hold

As CNN's Major Garrett reported Tuesday, the Justice Department will not allow the FBI to process background checks for either campaign until there is a clear presidential winner, according to top White House sources.

These sources said the Justice Department has agreed to make available to both campaigns the special form future senior administration officials need to complete and submit to the FBI.

In an effort to remove any concern about the delay in beginning background checks, Siewert said during the transition from the Bush administration to the Clinton White House in 1992, the first checks didn't begin until the very end of November.

"There were only a handful that even began in December. Most of them really began in January," said Siewert.

The message from the White House continues to be that despite the unusual circumstances, the normal work that needs to go on inside the current administration and inside each campaign to prepare for the presidency is taking place.

"We're gathering written information, information about staffing, about scheduling, about hot issues in the cabinet, in the White House. That's going on now... And there's no reason why that information eventually can't be provided in a reasonable time frame to the victor when one emerges. But that work is on track," Siewert said.


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Wednesday, November 29, 2000

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