By
Eli Yokley
January 19, 2017 at 11:43 am ET
When President-elect Donald Trump takes over the White House on Friday, he will keep in place dozens of Obama administration officials who oversee defense and security issues in an effort to smooth the transition.
The list of 50 officials includes Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for global coalition to counter ISIL; Nick Rasmussen, who leads the National Counterterrorism Center; Tom Shannon, the State Department’s under secretary for political affairs; and Adam Szubin, the Treasury Department’s acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Thursday that the officials will stay on in order to ensure continuity of government until Trump gets his own officials in place.
“We’re going to be ready to go at 12:01 tomorrow,” he said on a daily press call.
On Thursday, Trump finalized his Cabinet-level nominations by naming former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue as his choice to lead the Department of Agriculture. With that, Spicer said, Trump can now turn his attention to filling other appointments to his administration.
White House Briefing
