An Historic Transition
Posted on November 10th, 2008 - 3:30 PMAbout the Author: Marcus Peacock is EPA’s Deputy Administrator and Transition Leader.
EPA’s main headquarters building is located at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. At this same intersection in the mid-morning of April 15, 1865, Andrew Johnson slipped into what was then called the Kirkland House hotel. About two hours later he re-emerged. He went in as Vice President. He came out as President.
 Andrew Johnson ‘transitioning’ at Kirkland House, 1865. |
It is miraculous that during one of the most emotive and disturbing events in our history, Lincoln’s assassination, we handed off Presidential power so peacefully. We have been through 42 Presidential transitions under both banal and extraordinary circumstances and have never encountered angry mobs swarming the Capitol or soldiers marching on the White House. We take this consistently placid process for granted. Just ask anyone living in Zimbabwe, Burma or Thailand.
That said, some transitions are better than others. I believe the current transition may turn out to be the smoothest on record. The current Administration started working with the campaign staffs weeks ago to prepare for this changeover and that advanced planning is already paying dividends.
One reason is technology. We can now communicate more information more quickly to more people than ever before. For instance, if you are at EPA and have any questions regarding the Agency’s transition you can go to an intranet site and get answers. If you don’t see an answer to your question there, you can ask your question and get an answer later. In addition, on October 20, 2008 we broadcast a briefing regarding EPA’s transition throughout the agency on internet protocol television. If you missed it, you can replay it at your leisure.
When the President-elect designates an EPA transition team – and we have a clear process in place for the President-elect to notify the Agency of who is on this team — we are already prepared to give them the infrastructure and information they will need to seamlessly take the reins in January. 12th and Pennsylvania was the location of one of the most chaotic transitions in history. It will now be the site of one of its smoothest.
Tags: political transition, president
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Question of the Week
November 11th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
you comment … One reason is technology. We can now communicate more information more quickly to more people than ever before.
Comment can help unite, but it can also encourage mutiny. Just my two penneth…
:)
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Marcus reply on November 12, 2008 11:59 am:
Phil has a point here. It can all depend on people’s intentions.
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Sally G reply on December 22, 2008 7:09 am:
And it helps transparency and accountability!
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November 15th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Information technology has created unique and exciting communication portals, but has also produced a staggering amount of duplicative and disconnected information or data that can make getting a definitive piece of quality information difficult if not impossibleto elicit.
The overwhelming amount of past legislation, final rules and findings etc generated by Government agencies, many with overlapping interests and jurisdictions, makes the job of coming up to speed as a new adminstrator almost impossible. Unfortunately this tends to create a situation where new leadership must rely upon agency veterans to be the repository of past works. This creates a work environment where concentrating on remembering the past, and keeping it intact, is the first order of business.
This is not due to polital agendas, but a side effect of the information and regulatory boom of our generation.
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