For more than a month, a squad of lawyers has been gathering for the first Justice Department transition in the post-9/11 world. Now that their candidate has won, they’re at the gates — or rather, the 20-foot-high aluminum doors of Main Justice — waiting for President-elect Barack Obama and President George W. Bush to finalize the rules for information-sharing and access during the transition.
The Justice Department calls its own preparation unprecedented in modern times. Under a 2004 law, the department has been vetting Obama’s transition team for security clearances for more than two months. And since at least July, the department has been laying the groundwork for a new administration. Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed his chief of staff, Brian Benczkowski, and Lee Lofthus, the assistant attorney general for administration, to coordinate the transition.
