WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is still desperately searching for a good hiding spot for the nation's nuclear codes, just hours before his successor is set to take the oath of office.

According to senior intelligence officials, the president has kept the secret codes for America's nuclear arsenal at close hand in recent weeks, while repeatedly failing to find a place in the attic, in the back of a desk drawer, or in an unused closet that would prove difficult for the next president to find.