White House Transition Survivors Regret Neglecting Congress

The candidates’ teams must begin now to prepare for the next crisis.

In offering advice to the emerging teams for the next administration, former White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley this week engaged in some self-criticism.

“I regret that we didn’t use Congress more, to meet the delegations after their trips” for debriefings, said the adviser to George W. Bush and a veteran of several transitions. “The [candidate] transition teams should be free now to start working with Congress.”

Hadley, now chairman of the U.S. Institute of Peace, spoke with other former governing professionals at a forum convened Tuesday by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service as part of its ongoing effort to advocate for a smoother bipartisan transition process. “I’ve been on both the receiving end and the handoff end, and coming in is much more fun than going out,” Hadley said.

“Each new administration thinks they’re writing on a new piece of paper—a transformational moment,” he added. “But be humble. Wait six months and learn the organization first,” he cautioned incoming presidential appointees. They should serve as intermediaries between the president’s goals and the expertise already in government, Hadley said. Too often, politicos think civil servants “will work 120 percent for the new team, but you can’t expect that.”

The forum came two months after President Obama signed a new law designed to clarify roles and facilitate a bipartisan transition. And it came the same day the House Appropriations panel proposed transition-related funding for the Executive Office of the President ($7.6 million); the General Services Administration ($9.5 million); the National Archives and Records Administration ($4.9 million); and for emergency planning and security in the District of Columbia ($25 million).

The partnership’s panel was moderated by Michele Flournoy, former undersecretary of Defense for policy and now CEO of the Center for a New American Security. “It’s hard to imagine a more volatile environment,” she said, referring to ISIS, al Qaeda, the Middle East refugee crisis, a resurgent Russia, a rising China and climate change. 

Flourney suggested the new president appoint a national security team with clear roles and expectations that “doesn’t waste a lot of time with unnecessary friction.” She recalled running Obama’s transition team at the Defense Department and entering the White House to see a sign reading, “no ego, no drama, this is not about you.”

Former Rep. Jane Harmon, D-Calif., an intelligence specialist and now director and CEO of the Wilson Center, echoed Hadley’s thoughts on White House-Congress consultations. “There have been missed opportunities with this administration,” she said, noting that it is important to talk to people in the opposite party. “Terrorists don’t check our party identification before they blow us up,” she added, “so the less talk about the other party and why it’s to blame, the more progress.”

Harmon said Congress worked better when members stayed in Washington on weekends, their children went to the same schools, and the members had dinner and got to know people in the other party. “If you meet regularly and they know you, it’s hard to demonize you,” she said. “A skillful president will pull in former members of Congress and staff [for his own staff] and use them as a force multiplier.”

The next administration, Harmon suggested, should move away from the Obama model, which appears, she said, to allow the White House to dominate agencies on big decisions. “This demoralizes agencies and fails to leverage their talent,” she said.

The current confirmation process, plagued by long delays by lawmakers that can discourage talent from serving, is a sign that “the business model of Congress is broken,” Harmon added. “If all we do is game things and block the other side for a 30-second ad, we’re doomed as a country,” she said. “Toxic partisanship and willful ignorance are national security threats.”

John Negroponte, longtime diplomat and former director of the Office of National Intelligence, stressed the value of continuity in the intelligence community. “The sooner the intelligence officers brief the candidates, the better,” he said, “and the time for them to ask questions is now, while they have time.”

Negroponte also recommended that new officials take advantage of the expertise in the Human Resources departments, “the most underestimated functions in government,” he called them.

Having been confirmed by the Senate nine times as an ambassador or executive branch leader, Negroponte wondered why Congress, after two or three confirmations of the same person, can’t simply “waive it, like an E-Z pass.”

Hadley said agency preparations “have come a long way” since the Ford to Carter changeover in 1980, when he was invited to stay over under the Democrats. “The first day I walked in, every piece of paper was gone and every safe drawer was completely empty,” he said. There were only three staff left, and “no record of what was going on.”

Nowadays, Hadley said, “the number of number of world conflicts tells you that you can literally walk in and within hours of taking office be in the midst of a crisis.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.