GSA ready to jump-start the transition

Two floors of publicly funded office space in downtown Washington sit empty. There is no President-elect, so the General Services Administration is holding on to the office keys, plus more than $5 million appropriated for transition expenses.

To the horror of some of Washington's transition experts, the concept of planning ahead for a new government has become an instrument of political warfare.

Gore's camp decried the Bush team's planning as divisive for Americans, given the unknown election outcome. Gore campaign Chairman William M. Daley said that the Vice President, believing that he's always been prepared to assemble and lead an executive branch "at a moment's notice," has suspended his own transition planning.

But Bush went ahead and named running mate Dick Cheney as transition director, former Transportation Secretary Andrew Card as his designated chief of staff, and Stanford University professor Condoleezza Rice as the presumptive national security adviser. Reporters have been assured that retired Gen. Colin Powell will be offered a spot in a Bush Cabinet.

"It's in our country's best interest that we plan, in a responsible way, a possible administration," Bush told reporters and photographers ushered into his office on Nov. 10 to see his team. "I believe, as does Secretary Cheney, that the responsible course of action is to prepare, and that's what we're doing here in Austin, Texas: taking our time, in a very low-key manner."

Whether Bush or Gore lands the job, the new President faces the transition realities described below-and under heightened deadline pressure.

Staffing the Executive Branch

Cabinet secretaries: 14
Posts with Cabinet rank under Clinton: 16
Deputy secretaries: 23
Undersecretaries: 41
Assistant secretaries: 212
Deputy assistant secretaries: 484
Top political appointees requiring Senate confirmation: 1,000+
Political appointments not requiring Senate approval: 2,000

Staffing the White House

Political appointees: 858
Assistants to the President: 22
Presidential senior staff positions, by law at or above GS-18: 127
Positions for vice presidential staff at or above GS-18: 11
Career civil service employees: Approx. 4,400
Interns: 200-250
Volunteers: 1,000

Meeting the Challenge

Public transition funding: $7.1 million total; $5.3 million for incoming government, President-elect
Size of transition team/White House personnel office, paid & volunteer: 200
Key transition period: Nov. 8 to Jan. 20 (Inauguration Day)
Optimal transition deadlines:

• Nov. 8, or soon after: Name transition team; conclude memorandum of understanding with the FBI for personnel vetting
• Within two weeks: Name White House chief of staff, personnel director, counsel, press secretary.
• Within a month: Name directors of legislative affairs, management and administration, Office of Management and Budget, National Security Council, communications.
• Within six weeks: Name top Cabinet picks (Treasury, Defense, State, Attorney General) and round out White House staff/organization.
• Before Christmas: Name remaining Cabinet picks; send Cabinet nomination paperwork to Senate for hearings.
• Noon, Jan. 20: Expiration/resignation of existing Cabinet, White House, and political appointments (unless arrangements made for holdover).
• Jan. 20, or next few days: Senate votes to confirm Cabinet nominees; President issues executive orders/rescinds orders of predecessor.
• February: Submit fiscal 2002 budget to Congress.