Albright, Leach to represent Obama at summit

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By Jon Ward

The Obama transition office Wednesday unveiled the leaders of their agency review team, which will examine the inner workings of over 100 government offices and advise President-elect Barack Obama on what he should change or keep the same.

The transition office also announced that Mr. Obama will be represented at the global economic summit this weekend by former Clinton administration Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and by former Republican congressman Jim Leach, of Iowa.

The agency review will be led by three people: Melody Barnes, a senior domestic policy adviser to the Obama campaign who previously worked for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy; Lisa Brown, executive director of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy and a one time legal adviser to former Vice President Al Gore; and Don Gips, who worked under Mr. Gore at the White House as his chief domestic policy adviser.

The teams will begin work this week, the Obama transition office said, and will "provide the President-elect, Vice President-elect, and key advisers with information needed to make strategic policy, budgetary, and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration."

They will also "ensure that senior appointees have the information necessary to complete the confirmation process, lead their departments, and begin implementing signature policy initiatives immediately after they are sworn in," a statement from the transition office said.

Mr. Obama himself was in Chicago Wednesday and had no public appearances. After his usual morning workout, he spent much of the day at his hometown transition offices.

It was also announced that Vice President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill will visit Vice President Cheney and his wife Lynne at the Naval Observatory in Washington, where the vice president lives while in office.

In addition to announcing the agency review co-chairs, the Obama transition office released a slew of names who will take part in the examination over the next nine weeks.

In particular, they announced the two-person teams that will oversee the transition into the Defense Department, State Department, and Treasury Department.

At the Pentagon, Michelle Flournoy, a former high-ranking Pentagon official under President Clinton who helped start a new think tank in Washington last year, and John P. White, a deputy secretary of defense under Clinton, will manage the review.