Transition could be slow, cumbersome

November 6th, 2008 · No Comments

By: Chris Frates

President-elect Barack Obama must move quickly to assemble his team in the first wartime transition in 40 years, national security and political experts agree, but a largely antiquated process is likely to make that cumbersome.

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an economic crisis and the still-horrifying backdrop of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will confront the new president when he’s sworn in on Jan. 20, 2009. But Obama had an opportunity to get a jump on the transition, thanks to a new law that allows presidential candidates to submit names to the FBI to be vetted for key transition posts before the election.

That advantage, though, could be largely overshadowed by an increasingly complex process that includes political and security vetting as well as sometimes-difficult Senate confirmation hearings.

“The process will be marginally faster because of the [new law]. The next president will be able to submit more nominees early. But absent serious negotiation with the Senate, the process is likely to remain cumbersome for the nominees,” said Paul Light, an expert on presidential appointments and a professor at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.

The process could be further sped up if Obama quickly names a chief of staff — Rep. Rahm Emanuel is believed to be close to taking the job — and if Obama’s choice for that post and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) can negotiate a fast track for appointments.

Leon Panetta, former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, said past presidents-elect have had until early January to put their teams in place, but Obama has only a few weeks to start assembling his key national security and economic advisers. No easy task.

“You’ve got a very … top-heavy process that has built up over the last few years that makes it very difficult to expedite appointments,” said Panetta, who is advising Obama on the transition.

To help speed up the changeover, the FBI began checking the backgrounds of the two presidential campaigns’ likely transition members earlier than ever. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 allowed Obama and Republican rival John McCain to begin requesting security clearances before the election with the goal of obtaining them by the day after.

John Podesta, a former Clinton chief of staff who now heads the progressive Center for American Progress, directed the early transition work for Obama, and veteran lobbyist Bill Timmons, who was an aide to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, headed up transition efforts for McCain.

The White House worked with the FBI, the Justice Department and both campaigns to coordinate the early screening process. But a White House spokesman emphasized it doesn’t have access to the numbers or identities of those checked.

The administration gave both Obama and McCain intelligence briefings, and senior officials kept in close touch with both men about national security and economic issues during the general election, according to the White House. “We know that Al Qaeda and others look for transitions of governments for an opportunity for weakness in defenses, and we want to make sure that there is no weakness at all,” said deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto. “We want the transition team and their eventual nominees as well-briefed as possible and fully informed with what they’re going to be dealing with.”

The Bush administration has also put seasoned career executives in place to help fill the gap left by departing political appointees. The administration worked with both campaigns to update the personnel office’s online résumé system. When President Bush took office in 2001, the system managed a flood of 100,000 résumés.

The administration’s transition team includes White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten.

Much of an administration’s early effectiveness, though, still comes down largely to how fast the FBI can clear about 300 key officials, said Barry Scanlon, a former Federal Emergency Management Agency official in the Clinton administration and president of a crisis management and public safety consulting firm.

“That’s going to take a serious amount of resources put to bear in short order,” Scanlon said. “Have they really put that in place?”

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the bureau assigns as many agents as it takes to get the job done quickly.

“This becomes a major priority of the FBI,” he said. “Outside a terrorist attack, this will become one of the most important things the FBI will have to do over the next several weeks or months.”

And all the logistical preparations still don’t take into account the political process.

“It’s all the right words,” Panetta said of the logistics. “The problem is that words sometimes run into the realities of egos.”

In building a new administration, there are campaign staffers and supporters to reward and presidential and vice presidential teams vying for influence.

When Panetta was appointed Clinton’s budget director — before he was named chief of staff — there were often battles over whether to appoint political favorites or better qualified people. The challenge, he said, was finding someone qualified and politically acceptable.

“Hopefully you have a couple people who can cut through all that and get it done,” Panetta said. “That will be the test of the transition: whether they can develop some quick discipline to make sure these nominees aren’t chewed on for a long time by different factions.”

“We know that Al Qaeda and others look for transitions of governments for an opportunity for weakness in defenses, and we want to make sure that there is no weakness at all,” said deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto. “We want the transition team and their eventual nominees as well-briefed as possible and fully informed with what they’re going to be dealing with.”