President-elect Barack Obama's transition Web site -- www.change.gov -- went live in the last few hours. It's already populated with content, but is soliciting input from the public. Stylistically, it similar to Obama's campaign Web site. Not surprisingly, and like the campaign and many government agencies, it has a blog too.

Change.gov Screenshot

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has unveiled a new part of its Web site to help the new president and Congress. "Using its institutional knowledge and broad-based, nonpartisan work on matters across the government spectrum," the GAO site says, "GAO provides insight into, and recommendations for addressing, the nation’s major issues, risks and challenges."

The GAO highlights matters it considers the most urgent for Congress and the new administration. They are:

President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, a 501(c)4 organization officially called the Obama-Biden Transition Project, formally took flight today after months of preparation.

The transition project will help select Cabinet members and White House staff for the next administration.

President-elect Barack Obama
The transition to a new administration officially begins today. President-elect Barack Obama has 75 days from Nov. 5 until Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. His presidential transition team has been preparing for this day for months. Obama and his team will have their work cut out for them.

Led by John Podesta, president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress and former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, the team will assist Obama in taking the reins of the world's most powerful nation. This transition will take place as the nation faces a rocky period of economic turmoil, the continued threat of terrorism and two significant armed conflicts abroad.

The transition is about more than staffing the most senior layers of the executive branch with political appointees. It involves charting new courses for the executive, reviewing old agency policies and managing the interests of various powerful constituencies inside the government and out.

Transition Tracker is a project of American University School of Communication's graduate journalism program. It aims to report on the challenges facing the new administration and the new personalities and policies that will affect the lives of millions of Americans.

Condoleeza RiceSecretary of State Condoleeza Rice

Bio: Dr. Condoleeza Rice became Secretary of State on January 26, 2005. Nominated by President George W. Bush, Rice was previously Bush’s National Security Advisor. She spent a six years as Stanford University’s provost. Under the President George H.W. Bush, Rice served as the senior director for Soviet and East European affairs on the National Security Council during the breakup of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany.

Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman
Samuel W. Bodman
Bio: Samuel W. Bodman became the 11th Secretary of Energy on February 11, 2005.

Department Mission:

FY 2001 Budget: $20.1 billion (Total, discretionary budget authority) (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2003/bud14.html)

FY 2009 Budget: $23 billion (Total, discretionary outlays) (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/energy.html)

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates
Robert M. Gates