President-elect Barack Obama warned that he will inherit a $1 trillion budget deficit upon taking office, and pledged to ban all earmarks as an attempt to address both the "deficit of dollars and the deficit of trust."

"We're going to have to stop talking about budget reform. We're going to have to fully embrace it," he said after a meeting with his economic team this morning. "It's an absolute necessity."

He said his stimulus plan will "set a new, higher standard of accountability, transparency and oversight," and include an economic recovery oversight board, as well as an online platform so that citizens could monitor spending. He's expected to speak in greater detail about his plan later this week.

Obama, responding to a question from a reporter about his as-yet unannounced choice of Leon Panetta to head the CIA, said the former Clinton chief-of-staff "brings extraordinary management skills, great political savvy, a impeccable record of integrity" to the table.

"As a chief of staff ... to the president, he is somebody who obviously was fully versed in international affairs, crisis management, and had to evaluate intelligence consistently on a day to day basis."

He emphasized that his intelligence team has not been named, but that it would be a "top-notch" group that will "be delivering the information that the president needs," not what he wants to hear. He also said that his administration would be committed to "breaking with some of the past practice and concerns" that he said has tarnished U.S. foreign policy, referring to torture and detainment policies employed under President Bush.

Obama declined to specifically address the ongoing conflict in Gaza, saying again that the world should hear only one voice from American leadership.

"Obviously I am deeply concerned," he said. "After January 20 I will have plenty to say."