What Is This? Bush, Obama Reps To Have Disaster Drill

[tekisui]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — To share know-how about handling a catastrophe, Bush administration officials will hold a mock disaster drill at the White House on Tuesday with members of President-elect Barack Obama's team.

A 90-minute series of orientations and briefings will end with an exercise simulating a disaster.

"I won't go into the details of it, but it is an exercise scenario — a hypothetical scenario that is designed to test and tax the capabilities of the federal government," deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel said Friday, adding that similar drills are regularly held at various levels within the government.

White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten conducted the fifth and final meeting on Friday of a council set up to coordinate the transition from the Bush to Obama administrations. The meeting focused on operational details for the next two weeks, including inauguration-related security and logistics.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has said there has been no corroborated threat to the inauguration — the first since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"However, it is a very public event, one that happens every four years, one that is well-known, and one that gathers, you know, leaders in a very small environment," Stanzel said. "Obviously we have a lot of concern about it, but there is no credible threat at this point to the inauguration that is precipitating this."

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[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Sounds like a good idea to me.