President-elect Barack Obama is expected to announce his intelligence team (AP) at a press conference this morning in Washington.

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President-elect Barack Obama has a plan to overhaul the Bush administration’s domestic counterterrorism program, the New York Time reports. Under the plan, the duties of the homeland security adviser would be transfered to the National Security Council.

Cuban President Raul Castro has warned against pinning “excessive hopes” on U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. “[T]hough he may be an honest man, and I think he is, and a sincere man, and I think he is, one man cannot change the destiny of a nation, much less the United States,” Castro said, speaking on state-run television. Still, a Washington Post report from Havana published Wednesday shows many Cuban citizens are hopeful that Obama will end the embargo on Cuba and lift travel restrictions.

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President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly chosen Leon Panetta (San Jose Mercury News), former chief of staff to Bill Clinton, as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Obama also tapped retired Adm. Dennis Blair to be director of national intelligence. 

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President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden announced the nomination of several additional members of their national security team on Tuesday. Former Clinton administration officials James Steinberg and Jacob Lew are Obama’s picks to serve as deputy secretaries of state under Hillary Clinton. Thomas Donilon is the nominee for deputy national security adviser, and Antony “Tony” Blinken is the nominee for national security adviser to Biden.

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President-elect Barack Obama announced his nomination of Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) to the post of transportation secretary on Friday at a Chicago press conference. LaHood, who has represented Illinois’ 18th congressional district since 1995, is the first Arab-American to be chosen for a seat in Obama’s cabinet.

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“Today’s actions are a necessary step to help avoid a collapse in our auto industry that would have devastating consequences for our economy and our workers.  With the short-term assistance provided by this package, the auto companies must bring all their stakeholders together — including labor, dealers, creditors and suppliers — to make the hard choices necessary to achieve long-term viability.  The auto companies must not squander this chance to reform bad management practices and begin the long-term restructuring that is absolutely required to save this critical industry and the millions of American jobs that depend on it,”

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Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk is reportedly President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for U.S. Trade Representative (AP). Kirk is currently a partner at Houston law and lobbying firm Vinson and Elkins.

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President-elect Barack Obama is expected to announce the nomination of Mary Schapiro (LAT) as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. Schapiro is currently chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a non-governmental securities regulating body.

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The Bush administration has prepared more than a dozen memorandums (NYT) containing contingency plans to help President-elect Barack Obama deal with a variety of international crisis scenarios that could occur in his first days in office.

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