It has been eight years since federal agencies had to plan and execute a wholesale federal government presidential transition. While efforts were undertaken in 2012 to plan for the possibility that President Obama would not be re-elected, there was an equal chance that voters would hand him a second term. This time around, federal agencies know that the winds of change are surely coming regardless of which candidate prevails this fall.
In February 2009, I was part of the incoming batch of new Obama political appointees. In 2012, as deputy undersecretary for management at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), I was designated as the senior transition executive and oversaw DHS’s efforts to prepare for a presidential transition. With these two experiences, I was able to see the full range of issues that present during these challenging times.
In an effort to strengthen planning, Congress passed the 2015 Presidential Transitions Improvements Act. This legislation formalizes the transition process and improves the chances for a seamless handoff to the new administration. Additionally, key stakeholders such as the Partnership for Public Service and the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security are just some of the groups that are leading the charge to create high quality one-stop shops to assist in transition planning.
The coming months will be crucial, not only federal agencies, but also for the private sector and countless industries that support essential service delivery for the public. Here are some of the issues leaders in departments will be contending with and why it matters.
Shaping the message
Step one for most of the agencies is to prepare policy and briefing materials that can be shared with the emerging campaign transition groups. In the past, presidential campaigns have been hesitant to even admit they had started any transition planning before the election since it was perceived as being premature or presumptive.
In reality, issue teams are already being formed and white papers/policy papers are being drafted that will shape the message and agenda well after the election.
Agencies are in the process of distilling their missions into easily understandable briefing documents. Part of that process is to prioritize the items agency leaders want to highlight as the Obama administration comes to close.
As an example, the Coast Guard is in the process of designing the next generation of Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC). The OPC program is the largest acquisition project DHS will undertake for the next decade. Some have questioned the costs and requirements of this ship. The transition offers the Coast Guard an opportunity to better define this program and strengthen the justifications for the next group of leaders that arrive at DHS in early 2017.
Succession planning
As with all departments, career federal employees wildly outnumber political appointees. At DHS, there are approximately 160 appointees out of 240,000 total employees. As these senior political officials start their own transitions out of government, those positions will be temporarily filled by career members of the Senior Executive Service and GS schedule.
While meant to provide short term continuity, the reality is that senior career employees could be in these jobs for as much as a year while the process plays out. Agencies are taking this opportunity to review succession planning and continuity of operations plans to ensure clarity in who exactly will be elevating, in what order and what authorities are in place.
Training
With so many career civil servants set to temporarily elevate into senior political positions, it is critical that agencies provide quality training and tabletop exercises that clearly define roles, responsibilities and authorities. In some cases, the career personnel who take on an “acting” capacity are well versed in the job of the political appointee they work with, but in other instances they are not. Consistent, quality training for all employees who will elevate in the lines of succession is key. Also, there is no substitute for running several table top exercises that test the interactions of senior leaders in times of crisis.
Parachute teams and onboarding
In the last several transitions, the transition committee of the president-elect has created small parachute or agency review teams to swiftly go into the larger federal agencies.
These teams hit the ground running right after the election to begin the intense work of handing over the reins to the incoming appointees. In late 2008, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff’s team did an excellent job of establishing effective communication and coordination for then-Governor Janet Napolitano who had just been selected by President-Elect Obama to head Homeland Security. This is a critical and potentially chaotic time, when potential animosities left over from the campaign need to be set aside for the good of the country.
Then there is the onboarding process. This will dominate the first six months of 2017. While some of the senior political jobs in non-security agencies can be filled fairly quickly, those posts that require senate confirmation and top secret clearances will likely languish well into the spring. My experience is that agencies are well versed and prepared for this onboarding process, but the system of onboarding still takes too much time.
So what?
So why does any of this matter? It matters because the policies, people and process for implementing the first part of the next president’s agenda are at stake. A seamless, well executed transition helps provide continuity of service delivery for the public during the peaceful transfer of executive power. By revisiting key briefing materials, updating succession planning, providing high quality training and facilitating the onboarding process, federal agencies increase the likelihood the public will be well served in this important time of change.
Chris Cummiskey is a former acting undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security and a senior fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security.
4 presidential transition tips and why they matter
