Readout of the President’s Meeting with the National Security Council on Potential Holiday Threats

The President convened a meeting with his National Security Council today to review potential threats to the U.S. homeland and U.S. personnel overseas ahead of the busy travel period and the large public gatherings expected during the upcoming holidays. He received an update on security preparations planned and underway throughout the country, and also reviewed ongoing efforts to monitor the potential for violent reactions overseas to the release of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s report on the CIA’s former detention and interrogation program. The President also discussed the U.S. security posture in Pakistan in light of the horrific attack in Peshawar today that killed dozens of innocent students and children.  The President thanked his national security team for their tireless work and directed departments and agencies to continue to do everything in their power and within their authority to identify and disrupt any potential threats both at home and abroad to protect the American people. 

Participants Included:

•          The Vice President

•          Eric Holder, Attorney General

•          James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence

•          General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

•          Susan Rice, National Security Advisor

•          Denis McDonough, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff

•          John Brennan, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

•          Admiral Michael Rogers, Director of the National Security Agency

•          Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations (via secure video teleconference)

•          Neil Eggleston, Counsel to the President

•          Antony Blinken, Deputy National Security Advisor

•          Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism

•          Heather Higginbottom, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources

•          Robert Work, Deputy Secretary of Defense

•          Alejandro Mayorkas, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security

•          Nicholas Rasmussen, Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center

•          John Pistole, Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration

•          Mark Giuliano, Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

•          John Carlin, Assistant Attorney General

•          Colin Kahl, National Security Advisor to the Vice President

•          Suzanne George, Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the National Security Council

•          Brian Egan, Deputy Counsel to the President and National Security Council Legal Adviser

•          Marcel Lettre, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence