Extensive or invasive?

Potential appointees to the Obama administration are undergoing unprecedented scrutiny. Not only is the Obama transition team looking to avoid situations that caused embarrassment to past administrations, it's also looking closely at potential conflicts of interest that might be caused by spouses or children working as lobbyists. According to Wednesday's New York Times:

A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive — some say invasive — application ever.

The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps.

Only the smallest details are excluded; traffic tickets carrying fines of less than $50 need not be reported, the application says. Applicants are asked whether they or anyone in their family owns a gun. They must include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook pages.

Obama vs. the Taliban

Changes are brewing in Afghanistan. The Obama foreign policy team is looking at new strategies in the fight against the Taliban.

Shutting down Guantanamo

Barack Obama's transition team has expressed a desire to reverse some of the Bush administration's more controversial policies. First up: Guantanamo Bay.

President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, a plan that would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice.

I'll be posting more on this plan as details are divulged.