PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S
Experienced hands leery of FBI probe, president’s personality, chaotic transition
administration is rife with unfilled jobs more than five months after he took office.
WASHINGTON — Many of the suites reserved for top civilian officials at the Pentagon sit empty or have temporary fill-ins while Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis worries about North Korea and Iran.
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin lacks appointed loyalists in any of the 17 top spots below him as he rewrites the nation’s byzantine tax code. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson similarly relies on a skeleton staff to conduct global diplomacy.
And in the White House, President Donald Trump still depends on a communications director who resigned last month — because he hasn’t found a replacement.
More than four months after taking office, the president who built his brand telling people “You’re fired!” is having a hard time staffing up.
Working in the White House or as an aide to a Cabinet secretary is usually a career capstone, a chance to serve the country and sweeten the resume. But Trump has found it harder to fill out his administration than his recent predecessors.
It doesn’t help to have a special counsel investigation and FBI probe hanging over the White House, much of the GOP intelligentsia still chafing at Trump’s populist policies, and widespread worry about his willingness to publicly undercut top aides with spontaneous tweets.
“I will not work for this Administration (read into that what you may),” G. William Hoagland, who advised Senate Republican leaders on budget policies for 25 years and now is senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, wrote in an email.
Hoagland, who said he was approached about the job of commissioner of the Social Security Administration, cited “major differences of opinion” with the White House position that Social Security does not need changes to remain financially viable.
The Senate has confirmed only 40 of the 1,242 positions in the federal government that require a vote, according to the Partnership for Public Service, a non-partisan nonprofit group that tracks jobs and government effectiveness.
The Trump administration complains that Senate Democrats have used arcane rules to stall the process that is otherwise controlled by the Republican majority.
But Trump also is far behind his predecessors in submitting nominations.
Obama, George W. Bush and Clinton each had nominated more than 200 people requiring a Senate vote at this stage. Trump has put 110 names forward.
Adam White, research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said “valuable time is ticking away” as Trump fails to staff his departments with leaders who can provide direction and energy.
“President Trump’s agenda of reforming and rolling back some of the regulatory initiatives by his predecessor, Barack Obama, requires serious work,” said White. “That’s the work of a massive political bureaucracy.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs, the second largest government department after Defense, has 45,000 vacancies — nearly 15 percent of its authorized workforce, Secretary David Shulkin has said.
The reasons are many, including the chaotic transition for an insurgent candidate who had a small staff and few ties to the GOP establishment.
“People want that kind of job,” said a former aide to George W. Bush who considered a job in the Trump White House before opting out. “They’re just a little leery of all the wackiness.”
Williamson Evers, who headed Trump’s transition for the Department of Education, speculated that some would-be employees may be spooked by Trump’s plans to shrink large parts of the government.
“To ask somebody to tell their boss they’re leaving and to tell the children ‘We’re going to a new school,’” Evers said. “…and then to say ‘Oh no we’re not going to do that.’ You can’t really do that.”
Trump’s sensitivity to the criticism he received from conservative intellectuals during the campaign has also played a significant role. It’s especially apparent in foreign affairs and national security posts, where resistance to Trump among Republicans was deepest.
Just eight of 120 State department posts, including ambassadors, that require Senate confirmation have been approved, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
Trump vetoed Tillerson’s choice of Elliott Abrams, a former adviser to Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush, to serve as his top deputy, in large part because Abrams criticized Trump during the campaign. That slot has been filled by John Sullivan, who was approved last month.
Others have been stricken for lesser sins.
Craig Deare, who was named National Security Council director for Western Hemisphere affairs in late January, was fired weeks later after he criticized Trump’s treatment of Mexico and his policy team during a private session at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.
Trump’s first pick for Army secretary, Vincent Viola, blamed government rules forcing him to cut business ties when he bowed out. Trump’s second pick for Army secretary, Mark E. Green, withdrew after criticism over his comments about Muslims and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, said it will be difficult for Trump to catch up on his hiring after losing so much time.
“They have a small group of people that have been responsible for making these personnel decisions,” Stier said. “Those are the same people who are worried about a Russia investigation, health care reform, tax reform, a North Korean missile test, the debt ceiling, the Paris climate accord. You name it.”