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President Bush today gave warning that the global crises facing the United States "will not pause" for a new administration to settle in, as he unveiled details of what he said must be a smooth and vigilant transition to an Obama White House.

In an address to staff on the White House lawn, Mr Bush said that the handover would be "America's first wartime presidential transition in four decades" — since Richard Nixon succeeded Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam war — and America's enemies would "like nothing more" than to attack her during a moment of inattention.

He said that an "unprecedented effort" was under way to ensure that the executive branch was prepared for the handover. Mr Obama received his first intelligence briefing today and his senior aides were being given security clearances. His team was also being briefed on ongoing policy issues ranging from financial markets to the war in Iraq, Mr Bush said, adding: "I look forward to discussing those issues with the President-elect early next week".

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The outgoing President drew cheers when he declared: "We will continue to protect this homeland by defeating the terrorists and extremists abroad so that we don't have to have face them here at home."

Mr Bush, who had earlier met with his Cabinet to discuss how to effect a smooth handover at a time of economic emergency, said that he would continue to work on solutions to the financial meltdown in his remaining days in office. He is to host a summit on the crisis on November 15, which Mr Obama is not planning to attend though he may take the opportunity to meet with visiting leaders.

Although Mr Obama's inauguration is still two months away, it is widely expected that the President-elect will have more involvement with the Administration in its final days than is usually the case because of the economic crisis and ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has already spoken to Congressional leaders about using a lame-duck session later this month to pass a $100 billion (£63 billion) economic stimulus package, but, wary of encroaching on the outgoing President's territory, may be tempted to scale back or delay the plan until January if he cannot broker bipartisan support.

Keen to hit the ground running, Mr Obama is already assembling his governing team and has offered the post of chief of staff to Rahm Emanuel, a Democratic congressman from Illinois and close colleague who rose to national attention as a savvy political operator in Bill Clinton's White House. Mr Emanuel was today considering the offer.

Mr Obama named John D. Podesta, the former Clinton White House chief of staff, to lead his transition team along with long-time adviser Valerie Jarrett, and Pete Rouse, his chief of staff as senator. Meanwhile speculation is rampant as to who might be tapped for key cabinet posts at the State Department, Pentagon and the Treasury.

At the Treasury, Democrats close to Mr Obama said that they believed the likeliest choices to replace Hank Paulson were Lawrence H. Summers, who occupied the role under President Clinton, and Timothy F. Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Advisers quoted in The New York Times said that the President-elect might ask Robert Gates to stay on as Defence Secretary as an overture to the Republican Party. If not, John J. Hamre, the former Deputy Defence Secretary and former Richard J. Danzig, the Navy Secretary are tipped for the role.

If Mr Obama decides against Mr Gates or he declines the offer, the President-elect might consider a Republican for the State Department, advisers said — possibly Indiana Senator Richard Lugar and Chuck Hagel, a Senator from Nebraska. If Mr Gates stays on, some Democrats suggested that Senator John Kerry, who as the party's 2004 presidential nominee gave Mr Obama the convention platform that catapulted him to national attention, was the leading choice for the job.

For national security adviser, Mr Obama is said to be considering either James Steinberg, a former deputy to the role, or Gregory Craig, a former State Department official. Mr Danzig and Dennis Ross, an experienced Middle East envoy, have also been slated as possibilities. Susan Rice, a former assistant secretary of state and a senior foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign, has been touted as a possible deputy national security adviser or ambassador to the United Nations.

But while the Obamas are busy planning their move to the White House — and Michelle Obama inspects her soon-to-be-home at the invitation of Laura Bush — the Republican ranks remain in disarray.

Infighting over the cause of the campaign's demise is said to be focusing on the role of Sarah Palin, who aides to Mr McCain blamed for alienating moderate voters as the wheels began to come off in the closing days of the race.

Yesterday, the Alaska Governor dismissed claims that she had behaved like a diva during the campaign, telling CNN that there had been no tension "certainly from my part or my family's part".

But that hasn't stopped McCain staffers from unloading their disappointment on to Mrs Palin, telling reporters that they were shocked by her lack of international — and even geographical — knowledge.

Fox News reported that advisers were deeply concerned that she did not have "a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running-mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency", in part because she didn't know which countries were in the North American Free Trade Agreement and she "didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself".

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