Trump and Biden national and homeland security staff will meet Wednesday for threat exercises
CNN
Some of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks and top national security staff are expected to meet Wednesday with President Joe Biden’s National Security Council in the White House to walk through how the US government responds to a range of homeland security threats and scenarios, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Some of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks and top national security staff are expected to meet Wednesday with President Joe Biden’s National Security Council in the White House to walk through how the US government responds to a range of homeland security threats and scenarios, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The teams will meet as the US government faces multiple challenges at home and abroad that demand the National Security Council’s attention, including deadly fires in Los Angeles and efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. There are also fresh concerns in the US over terrorism after a man rammed his truck into New Year’s revelers in New Orleans earlier this month, killing 14 people and injuring more. Participants in Wednesday’s meeting in the Situation Room are expected to discuss US policy options for responding to real-world scenarios based on the current threat environment, one of the sources said. CNN has reached out to the Trump transition team and the Biden National Security Council for comment on the expected meeting. Such meetings between incoming and outgoing administrations are typical as a new slate of US officials gets up to speed on portfolios from counterterrorism to transnational crime and public health. When the Obama administration handed off to Trump’s team in late 2016 and 2017, officials participated in scenarios about an outbreak of contagious disease – an example that Obama officials later pointed to when the Covid outbreak began during Trump’s first administration. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said Tuesday that he and Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice for national security adviser, “have spent a considerable amount of time together” to make sure that the next administration is briefed on immediate issues and “longer term trends” impacting national security.
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