(Republican control of Lubbock County strengthens during 2024 presidential election)

The Washington D.C. area, which has about 370,000 government workers, is at the quake’s epicenter. This region is all about government, and the various “industries” which feed off of it like consultants, lobbyists, law firms, think tanks, non-governmental organizations and the like – which some people may label by less flattering terms – are the lifeblood to the local economy.

Even when the same party stays in power after an election – like President Barack Obama’s second term – there may be policy changes and for certain many key positions turn over.

But when someone like former-President Donald Trump, with such sharp differences with the previous administration in substance and style takes over, the region really shakes.

This is my 14th Presidential transition – many of which I experienced as a U.S. diplomat overseas. During the 2000 election, I was serving as a career U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia.

As soon as the election winner was determined after the long delay of “hanging chads,” all ambassadors received a note reminding us that every one of us – career and political appointees alike – needed to submit a letter of resignation, since we serve at the pleasure of the President.

At any one time about one-third of ambassadors are “political,” and usually almost all of their “resignations” are accepted. On the other hand, most of the career people are left in place until their three-year terms expire, when the incoming Secretary of State works with the White House to nominate their replacements.

This time, though, there is a feeling in the diplomatic ranks, that the incoming administration may look beyond the political appointees to make sure that career ambassadors left in place will be supportive of President Trump’s policies.

During the 2020 election cycle, I was serving in President Trump’s first administration as a Presidential appointee in Washington as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa.

Currently Presidents have about 4,000 total positions to fill, of which 1,200 – like mine – require Senate confirmation.

As soon as the election is decided, the incoming President sends “landing teams” to every U.S. Government agency to start preparing for the incoming administration’s “takeover.”

It’s a strange time, with the outgoing administration still going through the motions of governing while knowing the sand in the hourglass has about run out. Meanwhile the landing team members are frantically holding meetings, reviewing key issues, and trying to learn the ins and outs of the organization they are reviewing. If there are significant policy differences between the outgoing and incoming administrations – like now – the outgoing officials may try and spend available funds on their priorities and sign agreements before the new administration takes over.

An inconvenient truth is that the world doesn’t pause its crises while the U.S. changes from one administration to the next. As a matter of fact, some of our adversaries or even friends may try and take advantage of the transition period to take actions they would resist in the middle of a U.S. President’s term. Given the critical role the Secretary of State plays in dealing with these global events and being responsible to implement the President’s foreign policy priorities, the Senate usually confirms the Secretary either prior to the inauguration or within a few days after.

But this Senate courtesy has extended beyond the Secretary of State with recent Presidents having about 90% of their cabinet nominees given Senate hearings prior to inauguration with quick confirmation thereafter. We’ll see if this continues.

Beyond the top cabinet positions there are Deputy Secretaries, Undersecretaries, and Assistant Secretaries who are the ones who actually run executive agencies.

They also require Senate confirmation to serve. These can take much longer, and single senators – upset with the administration, holding a grudge, or wanting to make a political point – can significantly delay the process. But even while awaiting such confirmations, the organizations need direction and the President needs assurance that all federal agencies will begin carrying out his policies.

This is accomplished by the President delegating to cabinet Secretaries the right to name “acting” officials to temporarily occupy leadership positions to manage the organizations. One limit is that Presidents cannot get around Senate confirmation requirements by placing someone in an “acting “role in the position to which they were nominated. Everyone agrees the confirmation process is convoluted, takes too long, and there are too many positions requiring confirmation, but no one seems willing to change it.

There will be much stress and gnashing of teeth among federal bureaucrats during the current transition. The massive 900 page “Project 2025," about which I wrote a previous op-ed – even though criticized by President Trump while also used by Democrat campaign ads to frighten voters – has spooked government employees. There have also been persistent reports that the new administration will make major reductions in the civilian workforce and move numerous positions out of Washington to other parts of the U.S. President Trump has also stated he will reintroduce a new employment classification which he implemented late in his first term. This would turn as many as 50,000 positions into Presidential appointments which will not require Senate confirmation and will not have traditional civil service protections – meaning people in such positions could be fired at will. Anyone spending even a week working in a federal agency will realize that the bureaucracy is in desperate need of reduction, reorganization, and reform.

So based on my long experience in Washington, I applaud any effort to streamline the federal workforce and make it more responsive to the policies of our elected leaders – but I am also a realist, knowing how futile and thwarted such efforts have been in the past. Maybe this time will finally be different with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy named to a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” and Lucy won’t pull the football away!

Ambassador Tibor Nagy was most recently Assistant Secretary of State for Africa after serving as Texas Tech’s Vice Provost for International Affairs and a 30-year career as a US Diplomat. Follow him on X @TiborPNagyJr