President-elect picks 3 leaders for transition

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Obama on Wednesday named a team heavy on experience in the Clinton administration to help guide transition efforts in the State, Defense and Treasury departments.

In a statement, Obama revealed the agency review team leaders who will be responsible for reviewing budgets, personnel and policy in the three departments so the new administration can begin working as soon as Obama is sworn in on Jan. 20.

He named two leaders for each of the three agencies, and all six worked in some capacity under President Clinton.

The Treasury team leads are Josh Gotbaum, an investment fund adviser who has experience in multiple federal agencies, and Michael Warren, chief operating officer of advisory firm Stonebridge International who was executive director of the President’s National Economic Council.

At State, the leads are Tom Donilon, a lawyer who was an assistant secretary of state, and Wendy Sherman, a principal of The Albright Group advisory firm and a former top State Department official.

The Defense team is being led by John P. White, chair of the Kennedy School Middle East Initiative at Harvard and a former deputy defense secretary, and Michele Flournoy, president of the Center for a New American Security. Obama also named a 14-member working group that will oversee the entire review process. The three co-chairs include Melody Barnes, a domestic policy adviser on Obama’s campaign, and two former top aides to Vice President Al Gore.

who have taken leave from their current jobs. Lisa Brown is executive director of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, and Don Gips is an executive at Level 3 Communications.