By REBECCA NEAL
The next president must be prepared to quickly nominate his first 100 presidential appointees upon taking office, said experts discussing the upcoming presidential transition before a Senate hearing last week.
The next president's goal, said Clay Johnson, deputy director for management, Office of Management and Budget, should be to name and win Senate confirmation for the most critical political leadership positions - especially at the Defense, Homeland Security and State departments - by April 1.
"They need to load up the Senate with lots of nominees," Johnson told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on oversight of government management, federal work force and the District of Columbia. "The thing that drives the Senate is having a large stack of nominees."
A smooth transition, especially among security and intelligence agencies, is crucial in a post-Sept. 11 America, Johnson said. With more than 1,100 Senate-confirmed political appointee positions, the president-elect should start working as soon as the election's over to name his top agency leadership picks and begin laying the foundation for their quick confirmation.
"The White House is working with [both president candidates] to pick the most important 100 [positions]," said Johnson, who added that this is the first time the White House has worked with candidates from both political parties to plan a presidential transition.
In the most recent presidential transitions, only about 25 people were confirmed by the Senate by April 1, not nearly enough to meet security needs, Johnson said. The goal now is to have 400 people confirmed by August, he said.
Gail Lovelace, chief human capital officer for the General Services Administration, said government agencies are working together to ensure a smooth transition, and plenty of interagency meetings have been held and are planned for the next few months.
"We recognize that a transition can be perceived as a time of vulnerability for our country, and so we are taking appropriate steps along with DHS and other national security agencies to ensure continuity of government during this time, as well as having identified alternate locations and workplace solutions for the presidential transition team in the event of an emergency," she said.
Extensive training and discussions among the government's top human resource executives have been held to ensure a smooth transition, she added.
"We're positioned to make sure people are ready to set up to take on critical positions," she said.
Human capital needs will need to be addressed as soon as possible. More than one-third of the federal work force will be eligible to retire under the new administration, said Gene Dodaro, acting comptroller general, Government Accountability Office.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who chairs the Senate panel, said oversight of contractors, including those in Iraq, should not be lost in the midst of the transition. He encouraged the witnesses to stress the importance of oversight at agencies.
"The next administration will need to make oversight of contracts and contractors a high priority. With fewer and fewer career employees at agencies and more and more contractors, it is important to fill leadership positions quickly to ensure proper oversight," he said.
Johnson said clear definitions of success should be created for every aspect of government, including procurement, management and contracting.
"We need to clearly define who is accountable, and all of this must remain very transparent to the public," he said.
But the presidential transition won't be cheap. The president's fiscal 2009 budget requests $8.52 million for the executive power transfer. If a budget isn't passed soon, a special provision will need to be included in a continuing resolution to make these funds available.
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