Transition Roundup: Biden Team Briefed on Hacking Campaign; Education Career Officials Told To ‘Resist’

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on ABC News on Tuesday, that he strongly recommends President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris get the coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible. “For security reasons, I really feel strongly that we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can,” he said. “You want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in January.” Fauci also recommended that President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence get it, despite the fact that Trump already had coronavirus and likely has antibodies now. Here are some of the other recent headlines you might have missed. 

Biden announced on Tuesday that Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, will be his nominee for Transportation secretary. “The first openly gay major presidential candidate in American history, and one of the youngest ever to win a state primary or caucus, Buttigieg is a barrier-breaking public servant from the industrial Midwest with a track record of trailblazing, forward-thinking executive leadership,” said the transition team in the press release. 

Biden is expected to pick former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to be Energy Department secretary, Politico reported on Tuesday. 

The Biden team received briefings on the recent SolarWinds hacking campaign earlier this week from national security officials in the Trump administration, CyberScoop reported on Tuesday. Read more about the hack and the federal agencies affected, on NextGov here.

The head of the U.S. Space Force had “a very good conversation” with Biden’s transition team, Space News reported on Tuesday. “I was happy to chat with them,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond said. “But I’m not going to speculate on what they may or may not do. But again, we had a really good conversation.”

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a briefing on Tuesday that “the president is still involved in ongoing litigation related to the election,” when asked if Trump plans to acknowledge Biden as the winner now that the Electoral College has voted. “Yesterday's vote was one step in the constitutional process,” she said. “So I will leave that to him and refer you to the campaign for more on that litigation.”

The White House Counsel’s Office “strongly” advised Trump against firing FBI Director Christopher Wray, due to concerns that it would risk “creating the perception that a ‘loyalty test’ ” is required for a job that “traditionally has maintained independence from the White House,” NBC News reported on Wednesday. Trump has openly taken aim at or contradicted Wray over various matters. 

During a virtual meeting on Tuesday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged career employees to “be the resistance” when the Biden administration comes in, Politico reported. “The secretary's remarks come after nearly four years of frequently sparring with the career employees of her department,” said the report. “She tangled with the agency’s union over reorganizations and workplace policies, such as teleworking rules, and blamed bureaucrats at the agency for making it difficult to get things done.”

Public Citizen, an advocacy nonprofit, launched a “lame duck” tracker on Tuesday to follow the Trump administration’s regulation rollbacks, executive orders, pardons, “sabotaging” of the transition and more. 

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University outlined priorities the Biden administration should take in its first 100 days. This includes narrowing or getting rid of the policies at various agencies that restrict employees from speaking to the press or public in general, publishing Office of Legal Counsel final opinions and rescinding Trump’s executive order limiting certain types of diversity training at agencies. 

Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, urged Biden to reinstate National Park Service superintendents’ ability to close sites or sections of them due to coronavirus outbreaks. “Current [Interior Department] policies are wholly insufficient and fail to provide basic protections for employees and the public,” he wrote in a letter on Wednesday. “According to recent news reports, roughly 150 [NPS] employees tested positive for COVID-19 between March and September.”  

Upcoming: Biden and Harris will meet with governors this afternoon. 

Today’s GovExec Daily podcast episode features the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight talking about the “dangers” of Schedule F, the new personnel class that strips those put in it of their civil service protections. 

Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the transition? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.