Continuity from Bush administration to new president assured

The Heritage Foundation held a discussion about the post-Bush transition period in response to Senator and Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden’s remarks expecting a crisis to occur within the first six months of an Obama administration. Giving their expert opinions were Dr. James Carafano and Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation, and Clark Ervin of the Aspen Institute who was also the first Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security.

Carafano began the discussion by expressing that he “[doesn't] actually think the government is particularly vulnerable in this transition period.” The only continuity problems that may occur, he said, will be in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) if an Obama administration comes to power. He continued with the thought that DHS would be a difficultly for the Democrats because it was created since they were last in power, so “they haven’t been there” before.

Lisa Curtis is a Senior Research Fellow of the Asian Studies Center and contextualized the discussion by focusing on recent Afghan-Pakistan relations. She believes that lately the Taliban has been “emboldened” in the tribal areas of Pakistan where they have become de facto rulers and they are spreading into Afghanistan. The United States’ response to this, she said, must be an increase in troops to the region because America must gain support of the local populations there to have any sway over the Taliban.

Clark Ervin concluded the discussion with a direct dismissal of Carafano’s belief that the transition period is not a time of vulnerability. He called the transition a “heightened threat period” that needed to “close security gaps” that have been created since Sept. 11. Ervin said that another attack on American soil, particularly in regards to the current economic crisis, “would be even greater with a new attack”, especially since America is already burdened by two wars.

Despite their differences, all three panelists agreed that the Bush administration was preparing to turnover their work of the past eight years and Ervin expected “joint table topics of the outgoing Bush team and the new incoming team.”