OMB veteran will lead transition review of government operations

The Obama-Biden transition team has tapped a former top official at the Office of Management and Budget to lead a comprehensive review of government operations, including delving into personnel and procurement issues.

Sally Katzen, a veteran of the Clinton administration, is one of 20 people named on Wednesday to oversee the review process, a specific portfolio of issues, and in some cases whole departments, to help the new administration get up to speed on policy and the landscape of the bureaucracy.

Katzen, who also will lead a review of the Executive Office of the President, is a lecturer at the University of Michigan Law School. During the Clinton years, she served as administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and as deputy director for management. OIRA is a little-known but powerful shop within OMB, playing a pivotal role in the federal rule-making process. It is responsible for reviewing agencies' draft regulations on policies and ensuring they adhere to the president's priorities. Many presidents have used the rule-making process and executive orders to circumvent legislative action.

Since 2001, Katzen has spent most of her time teaching law at various universities. Before joining the Clinton administration in 1993, she specialized in regulatory and legislative issues as a partner at the Washington law firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and also served in the Carter administration as the general counsel of the Council on Wage and Price Stability in the Executive Office of the President.

"She is they best person they could possibly have for the job," said Elaine Kamarck, a professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and former manager of the Clinton administration's National Performance Review. "We used to call her a one-woman bulwark of common sense in the federal government. She is an expert in government functioning and an expert in administrative law."

John Palguta, vice president for policy at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, agreed. "From her resume alone, she definitely has the credentials to dig into government operations, given her various assignments, particularly as deputy director of management at OMB," he said.

The Treasury, State and Defense departments each received their own team of leaders, indicating the important role those departments and their top personnel will play in the Obama-Biden administration. At Treasury, two businessmen will lead the review process: Josh Gotbaum, a former investment banker and current adviser to investment funds, and Michael Warren, chief operating officer of Stonebridge International LLC.

At Defense, John White and Michele Flournoy will conduct a top-to-bottom look at that department's operations. White, a lieutenant in the Marine Corps from 1959 to 1961, is a former Defense deputy secretary under Clinton as well as a former OMB deputy during the Carter and Reagan administrations. Flournoy is president and co-founder of the Center for a New American Security and a Clinton veteran. She worked at Defense as principal deputy assistant secretary for strategy and threat reduction.

Two former Clinton officials are heading up State's review. Tom Donilon, a partner at the law firm O'Melveny & Myers, served as assistant secretary for public affairs at State and chief of staff during the last Democratic administration. Wendy Sherman, a principal at The Albright Group -- former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's Washington consulting firm -- is known for her national security acumen, particularly on issues pertaining to North Korea. She served as counselor and chief troubleshooter for State during the Clinton years.

Palguta, a former government executive whose first presidential transition was from the Johnson to Nixon administrations, was not surprised that so many of the agency review team leaders are veterans of the last Democratic administration.

"You want some people who've had hands-on experience in the executive branch," he said. "It's awfully hard to come in cold." Bureaucracy know-how also will elicit respect from career employees, Palguta added: "Everybody will smile and be nice to you, but how forthcoming and candid they will be depends on how much credibility you bring."

For a complete list of agency review team leaders, click here.

Amelia Gruber contributed to this report.