The annual defense policy bill passed both chambers of Congress with veto-proof majorities. Source

President-elect Joe Biden painted a grim landscape of the state of the nation’s national security and foreign policy agencies, warning that in the four years that President Trump has been in office, those departments “incurred enormous damage” and have been “hollowed out in personnel, capacity and in morale.” Watch his remarks and CBS News political correspondent Ed O’Keefe’s analysis. Source

Mr. Biden said his agency review team has encountered “obstruction” from the political leadership at the Defense Department. Source

The new, more contagious strain of COVID-19 first discovered in the U.K. has reached over a dozen countries, and experts say it is likely already in the U.S. Meanwhile, Christmas and New Year’s travel is expected to make an already bad situation worse, and vaccine distribution in the nation is behind schedule. Dr. Leo Nissola joins CBSN to talk more about the pandemic. Source

The Times Square Alliance is helping New Yorkers get rid of their bad and unwanted memories of the past year. “Good Riddance Day” on December 28 allows people to shred, trash, burn and stomp their negative memories away before the start of the new year. Times Square Alliance senior vice president Tom Harris joins CBSN to discuss the tradition. Source

The woman, Anjanette Young, will meet with Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday. Source

The new coronavirus relief bill will provide more than $284 billion in loans for small businesses. The pandemic has forced many to shut down or downsize to make ends meet. Conner Mowles, the president of a company called ParkHub in Dallas, shares some of his challenges with CBSN. Source

The massive data breach of the software company SolarWinds, which left government agencies like the Treasury and Defense departments vulnerable to suspected Russian hackers, went undetected for at least nine months. Hitesh Shesh, president and CEO of the cybersecurity threat detection company Vectra, joins CBSN to discuss what we know so far. Source

More than two dozen historians weighed in on the most stressful years the U.S. and the world have ever seen. Source

Keyon Harrold, a well-known trumpeter, said he and his son were physically attacked by the woman at the hotel. Source