U.S. military prepares for potential crises in presidential transition

Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military, bracing for the first wartime presidential transition in 40 years, is preparing for potential crises during the vulnerable hand-over period, including possible attacks by al-Qaida and destabilizing developments in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to senior military officials.

“I think the enemy could well take advantage” of the transfer of power in Washington, said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen, who launched preparations for the transition months ago, and who will brief the president-elect, the defense secretary nominee and other incoming officials on crisis management and how to run the military.

Officials are working “to make sure we are postured the right way around the world militarily, that our intelligence is focused on this issue, and in day-to-day operations the military is making sure it does not happen,” Mullen said in an interview. “If it does happen, we need to be in a position to respond before and after the inauguration.”

Mullen, who will serve at least another year in his two-year appointment as the nation’s top military officer, expects to provide critical continuity between the two administrations at a dangerous juncture, the senior officials said.

The military’s primary focus during the transition is twofold: to heighten preparations for a crisis requiring military force, and to anticipate and advise the incoming administration on likely new directions in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials said. High-level briefings on the risks and benefits of new strategies in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as longer-term issues such as military modernization, are already being prepared for national security officials of the incoming administration, they said.

Historically, transition periods are times “of significant vulnerability. ... The number of major incidents is alarming,” Mullen said. In presentations he uses a chart that highlights pre- and post-inauguration crises from the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A second, classified chart shows the biggest threats today.