Trump transition names agency leads

Transition

Trump transition names agency leads

President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence held meetings with potential Cabinet nominees on Nov. 19 at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. (Photo Credit: a katz / Shutterstock.com)

The Trump administration's transition team has appointed leaders of the landing teams that will meet with domestic agencies.

Transition spokesman Jason Miller said the transition team planned to send those names to the White House by noon on Nov. 21 and expected the domestic team to meet with agencies on Nov. 22 or Nov. 23.

Those leaders include:

President-elect Donald Trump's was scheduled to meet on Nov. 21 with former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who is being considered for secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), who is retiring from Congress this year and was chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, is widely believed to have the inside track for that post.

As far as addressing the future of any specific agencies or subagencies, Miller said, "there'll be plenty of time to talk agency specifics after he's sworn in. Right now, we're really preparing for what we're going to go and do on Day One."

The Trump transition efforts have picked up speed in recent days, after initial delays when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and key members of his team were pushed out and Pence took over as transition chairman. And Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the nonpartisan White House Transition Project, predicted that early preparation by the Trump team, federal agencies and good-government groups would still pay dividends.

The transition-team shakeup caused a inconvenient pause, Kumar told FCW at the Nov. 17 meeting of the National Academy of Public Administration, but vast amounts of reference materials and written guidance were put together in the months leading up the election. "It's my assumption that all the materials will stay, even as the people leave," she said.

And Kumar noted in her NAPA presentation that, thanks to the 2015 Presidential Transition Act, official government participation in transition planning started in early May, with a council of agency representatives meeting regularly to prepare for the president-elect's "landing teams."

"It's very fortunate," she said, given the change in composition of the Trump transition team, "that the government is really ready."

Troy K. Schneider contributed to this report.

About the Author

Chase Gunter is a staff writer covering civilian agencies, workforce issues, health IT, open data and innovation.

Prior to joining FCW, Gunter reported for the C-Ville Weekly in Charlottesville, Va., and served as a college sports beat writer for the South Boston (Va.) News and Record. He started at FCW as an editorial fellow before joining the team full-time as a reporter.

Gunter is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where his emphases were English, history and media studies. Connect with him on Twitter: @WChaseGunter

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