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December 10, 2020
The presidential transitions mark a change of leadership not only in the White House, but also in all agencies of the executive branch. Georgetown Vice President and General Counsel Lisa Brown served as Co-Director of Agency Review for the Obama-Biden Transition, working to review the more than 100 departments, agencies and commissions that make up the executive branch. Brown, who later became an assistant to the president in the White House and secretary of staff during the Obama presidency, describes the transition process as an arduous task that depends on the sharing of critical information necessary to begin governing at the moment in time. that the new administration takes office on January 20.
Lisa Brown, Georgetown Vice President and General Counsel
What are the main goals of a presidential transition team?
Presidential transitions are times of vulnerability for our country. Not only is there a change of president, there is simultaneously a change of leadership in each agency of the executive branch. The risks range from delays to oversights and mistakes, and, on the national security front, to being caught off guard by a clever adversary with malicious intent.
Therefore, it is vital that the transition of power from one presidential administration to the next is as smooth as possible. If you think about it, no business, no corporation, no university, no non-profit organization, would choose to have all of their leadership gone in one day.
The only reason the executive branch of the federal government can do so successfully every four to eight years, even in times of depression or war, is the cooperation between the incoming and outgoing administrations and the professionalism and experience of the career. officials. This is not a partisan issue. It is about the efficient and effective functioning of government for the people it serves.
The overall goal of the transition is to prepare the president-elect and his team to take office and begin governing as efficiently as possible on the first day of the new administration. Transition includes teams focused on policy, staffing, agency review, and budget.
Combined, they prepare the president-elect and his team to “get down to business” to begin implementing the president-elect’s political priorities, nominate or appoint his political appointees, respond to impending agency problems, and prepare a budget as soon as possible. while taking office.
What was your role as co-director of agency review for the Obama-Biden transition team?
Created a structure and process to review the work of all executive branch agencies. The agency review team involved more than 500 people, with three co-chairs (of which I was one), an 11-person task force that oversaw the review of 10 groups of thematically related agencies, and teams for each agency with an identified team leader. and team members with assigned responsibilities. The task force and team leaders, in turn, coordinated with the policy and staff branches of the transition.
The goal of the agency review is to complete a timely and comprehensive review of the agencies and the White House, to provide the president-elect, cabinet appointees, and their key advisers with the critical information necessary to begin governing immediately. in which they assume the position. The information gathered informs the policy and budget planning process and staff selection during the transition, and ensures that new Administration officials can “go to work” when they take office the day after the inauguration.
What kind of company is the agency review process?
I have never worked harder in my entire life. It is a daunting task and a formidable organizing effort to try to learn, and then summarize for the president-elect and his team, what is happening throughout the executive branch of the federal government. The work is fascinating, essential for a smooth transition, and important to our country.
When does the transition period begin and end?
People tend to think of transition as the period between Election Day and Inauguration Day. While the formal transition ends when the president-elect takes office on January 20, it begins long before the election.
77 days passed between the election of President Obama and his inauguration, and that was not enough. There will never be enough time, so it is essential that the transition work begins well in advance of the elections and that the outgoing administration engage collaboratively and holistically with the transition team for the incoming administration.
Actually, the transition also extends well beyond Opening Day, as it often takes months to select and onboard political appointees in agencies.
How soon do presidential nominees start thinking about who will make up their transition teams?
Before and before. Candidates are no longer seen as “measuring the curtains” if they plan a transition before Election Day. The importance of an organized and effective transition is now widely recognized, and legislation requires specific work to be done before elections as well as between Election Day and Inauguration Day.
The Association for Public Service Center for Presidential Transition recommends that candidates begin transition planning in March of the election year. I understand that candidate Biden started in March or April.
The candidate generally selects a trusted advisor familiar with the government and good at management to run the transition operation while the candidate concentrates on winning the election. The candidate approves of all major transition decisions, but the intention is to establish a transition-focused parallel structure that does not distract from the campaign.
How has this transition been different from those of the past?
This is not the first time that a transition team has been unable to begin meeting with agency officials immediately after the election. President-elect Bush’s transition team did not begin such meetings until Vice President Gore granted the election on December 13, 2000, after the Supreme Court Bush v. Above decision.
However, this is the first time that the “determination” of the General Services Administration (GSA) on who won the election has become an issue.
During the 2009 elections, the GSA verification letter was delivered to President-elect Obama’s transition team within hours of the media calling for Obama’s election. It is also unusual to have a transition underway when the incumbent president has not granted the election.
What impact does it have when an incoming administration cannot move forward immediately after an election?
Any delay means wasted time catching up on the issues that the presidential administration will immediately face when it walks through the door.
While the incoming administration has access to public information, it needs to speak with agency officials for non-public details about urgent matters (legislative, regulatory, budgetary, litigious, or programmatic) that may require immediate action so that they are not balls fall or opportunities to act are not lost.
The risk this time around is somewhat enhanced by the fact that President-elect Biden is arguably the most experienced person to become president, and he has assembled an extraordinarily experienced transition team, many of whom worked in the Obama Administration and only They have been out of power for four years. But experience is not a perfect substitute for time spent talking with the agency’s regular employees about their current job.
For example, the nation needs the president-elect and his team to be fully informed about COVID-19 response plans before they take office so they can seamlessly intervene on January 20 to maximize the effectiveness and timeliness of the response. government, including the production and distribution of a vaccine. The health and economic security of our country depends on it.
The global challenges facing the United States similarly warrant a robust exchange of information on national security matters. Incoming administration officials should be aware of classified diplomatic, military and counterintelligence programs before taking office so that they can respond quickly, thoughtfully, and effectively to developments and threats that emerge after inauguration.
The 9/11 Commission cited the delay in starting the transition to the Bush Administration as a contributing factor to 9/11 due to the delay in getting its national security team up and running. One very practical impact of the delay for President-elect Biden is that there has been a three-week delay in the processing of background checks by the FBI, creating a bottleneck in the administration’s ability to incorporate political appointees.
The Presidential Transition Law has been amended several times since 1963. Do you think additional changes should be considered?
The GSA’s delay in determining the winner of the election is sparking conversations about how to avoid that scenario in the future or at least limit its impact. Regardless of who ultimately wins when there is a contested election, it is in the nation’s best interest to ensure that the necessary steps are taken to share information and facilitate the background checks that are essential to hiring, so that whoever ultimately wins is ready to go. govern.
How often do transition team members move into the president’s administration?
I understand that about 50% of the people who worked on the Obama / Biden transition entered the administration. For example, I became an assistant to the president and secretary of staff in the White House, and several people on agency review teams for the Obama administration were appointed to positions in those agencies. Appointing people who have worked through the transition provides a strong and smooth start to a new administration, as they have the information they need to get started right away.
This press release was produced by Georgetown University. The opinions expressed here belong to the author.
