Bush team offers Obama contingency plans

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The White House is providing contingency plans to help U.S. President-elect Barack Obama navigate a global crisis if one erupts in his first days in office.

The plans, part of a complex operation to ensure a smooth transition from President George Bush to Obama, cover options for scenarios such as a North Korean nuclear explosion, an attack on the U.S. federal computer system, a terrorist strike on U.S. soil or a violent outbreak in the Middle East, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The contingency planning is beyond what other administrations have done to ensure a smooth move between incoming and outgoing presidents, the Times said. Bush and Obama have promised to work together in the first transition of power since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

"It's a good-faith effort to provide potential information on some hot spots and some ideas about what they can do," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told the Times. "We just want to provide them, especially in the first few weeks, the basis for which they can have some information to make their decisions."

The contingency plans, he said, provide the new president a menu of potential responses to situations rather than a detailed course of action.

A spokesman for the Obama transition team declined comment, but others working on the transition said they appreciate the efforts.

"This doesn't absolve the Bush administration of some of their judgments they've made over the years, but this is the right thing to do," a person close to the transition team said.