Presidential transition resources
Below is a summary of several government resources which provide information about the upcoming transitions in the White House and Congress:
The Government Accountability Office has launched a web page addressing the transitions to the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress. The site identifies thirteen “urgent issues” — including the 2010 Census and the turmoil in the financial markets — which GAO considers “critical and time sensitive and require prioritized federal action.” The site also includes sections on agency-by-agency issues, the long-term fiscal outlook, and several more topics.
On October 9, President Bush signed Executive Order 13476, which established a Presidential Transition Coordinating Council to provide assistance to the incoming administration, which “may include, among other things, providing information relevant to facilitating the personnel aspects of a presidential transition and such other information that, in the Council’s judgment, is useful and appropriate, as long as providing such information is not otherwise prohibited by law.”
The Congressional Research Service has published a report (pdf, 209kb) which reviews previous presidential transitions since the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, including summaries of appropriations and expenses. The report also addresses some of the challenges of shifting from an election campaign to a transition. An appendix to the report provides the text of four presidential transition statutes, including the Presidential Transition Act of 2000.
In accordance with that law, the General Services Administration has published an online transition directory with information about each federal agency and department and transition resources for nominees and appointees to “assist in navigating the many responsibilities that fall on a new administration.”
In January, the Department of Homeland Security published a report (pdf, 309kb) by the department’s Administration Transition Task Force (ATTF) listing recommendations for the coming transition, which will be the first since the department’s establishment in 2003. The report said its main objective is “to advocate strategies and policies that will strengthen operational continuity of the full spectrum of national homeland security operations. Briefings, research and recent history (e.g., United States - September 11, 2001, Spain - March 11, 2004, United Kingdom - June 30, 2007, etc.) have provided the ATTF an appreciation of the potential vulnerabilities during transition periods. Not only are we aware that they exist, but our enemies are as well. The ATTF believes that the most vulnerable period is 30 days prior to, as recent history has shown, and through six months after the change in administrations.”
The Obama-Biden transition team has launched change.gov to provide news about the transition and information for job applicants.
Information about Inauguration Day is available from the websites of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee.
UPDATE: Congress has published the 2008 edition of the quadrennial Plum Book. As described by the US Office of Personnel Management, the Plum Book is “a listing of over 9,000 civil service leadership and support positions (filled and vacant) in the Legislative and Executive branches of the Federal Government that may be subject to noncompetitive appointments. These positions include agency heads and their immediate subordinates, policy executives and advisors, and aides who report to these officials. Many positions have duties which support Administration policies and programs. The people holding these positions usually have a close and confidential relationship with the agency head or other key officials.”