Mumbai Points to Top Obama Challenge

Even before Mumbai, Obama sought to assure the nation, saying in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" program, "I think it's important to get a national security team in place because transition periods are potentially times of vulnerability to a terrorist attack."

President-elect Barack Obama listens to a reporter's question during a news conference, in this file...

President-elect Barack Obama listens to a reporter's question during a news conference, in this file photo./Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., attends a memorial ceremony for the late Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, in this file photo, top-left./ Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks after a tour of an Engagement Skills Trainer facility, in this file photo, center-left./ Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on health care coverage issues, in this file photo, bottom-left.

(AP Photos/Getty Images)

The president elect is also expected to name Retired Admiral Dennis Blair as Director of National Intelligence, Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations, and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to head the Department of Homeland Security.

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Obama's challenge in assembling such a high-profile team will be to ensure they are all pulling the administration's foreign policy agenda in the same direction.