How Trump’s transition could end up hamstringing his agenda

Amid other transition delays — including in processing security clearances — former officials in both parties say this lag in beginning the usual crash course in agency operations only adds to the obstacles Trump will face as he looks to rapidly implement his sweeping policy agenda. And there are lots of barriers built into the structure of a huge agency like HHS, where you really can’t just come in and wave a magic wand and say, ‘You used to do things this way, and now we’re going to do it differently.’” While the Trump transition declined to comment on the status of their landing teams, incoming White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the president-elect’s nominees in a statement, calling them “highly-qualified men and women who have the talent, experience, and necessary skill sets to Make America Great Again.” The agency review process typically begins by mid-November. “But in the absence of a GSA-secure network, individual agencies will need to rely on their best practices for sharing controlled but unclassified information — anything that might be kind of more sensitive than the norm, like law enforcement information.” Rather than swiftly sharing data over email, she added, “That type of information they might choose to share only on paper or standalone terminals,” within the agency buildings, “but they may not feel comfortable transmitting that over a non-government provided network.” People in both parties who have previously held these roles tell POLITICO that those kinds of slow downs in the less-than-three-month transition could stall or even scuttle the new administration’s ambitions on everything from revamping vaccine safety data collection to tackling chronic diseases, and leave them unprepared to confront emerging threats like avian flu. “The most dangerous implications are for national security, and that includes health security,” stressed Democratic health care strategist Chris Jennings, who has served on both sides of several presidential transitions, including Biden’s transition in 2020. They are predictably unpredictable risks that can’t wait for officials to be briefed up on ramifications and needed remedies months into an administration.” Trump is poised to enter office in January amid a troubling outbreak of bird flu that public health experts worry could quickly balloon into a threat to the food supply or the general population.