White House Holds Homeland Security Tabletop Exercise With Senior Trump Officials

Senior officials from President-elect Donald Trump's administration , including the majority of his designated Cabinet nominees, were at the White House on Wednesday to participate in a transition exercise hosted by President Joe Biden's team .

The transition tabletop exercise was chaired by Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall in the White House Situation Room, the White House said, and included a substantial share of Biden's outgoing Cabinet for the two-hour session. The exercise has been a key part of presidential transitions since the September 11, 2001, attacks and give the outgoing and incoming teams a chance to rehearse how to respond to and manage a range of national security crises.

Wednesday's simulation touched on the management of potential terror attacks and avian flu, among other challenges.

The exercises can sometimes become an eerie preview of reality. During the 2016-17 transition from then-President Barack Obama to Trump, one such exercise included a discussion of the U.S. response to a global public health event. Three years later, Trump's administration was confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic .

It comes two weeks after an Islamic State-inspired attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day killed 14 people and injured more than two dozen. The country is currently managing an avian flu outbreak that has killed one person and affected the nation's food supply.