As with any large organization, no one individual is going to be able to run the whole place by themselves, it's going to be the team. And you need to have people in leadership that work well together, so while the White House has equities on who gets the job, at the end of the day, the secretaries ought to have the final say on who will be there because they are the ones who will make it work.

Max Stier

Categorized in : Politics

What I think is really problematic is the decisions about where you go to get work done are not made because of economic efficiency or programmatic effectiveness, but because they're workarounds.

I see lots of times where contracting is the only way to get arou... by Max Stier

I see lots of times where contracting is the only way to get around an onerous hiring process.

People underestimate the corrosive effect it has, it's like when you have a substitute teacher in your classroom. They aren't going to take on the tough issues.

You have an administration that got off to a very slow start filling its leadership positions, and continues to lag even now, the added element is the amount of turnover, especially at the top.

This is a report card on the administration. by Max Stier

This is a report card on the administration.

It becomes a question of: How much pain are you willing to inflict yourself going through the confirmation process versus how much you think you can actually do considering the shortness of time and the potential difficulties that may arise.

You cannot engineer the plane and fly it at the same time. by Max Stier

You cannot engineer the plane and fly it at the same time.

It’s hard to point the finger at Senate Democrats when there aren’t very many names before them, the Trump team has fallen behind on an essential aspect of running the most complicated, important, diverse organization on the planet and you can’t do it properly if you don’t have the right people put in place.

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If you don’t have your top people confirmed quickly, then you can’t select people downstream from there.

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Uncertainty is the bane of good management. And there's an awful lot of uncertainty right now, an acting person is a bit like the substitute teacher. They may be a wonderful teacher, but the fact that they're the substitute teacher means they get no respect, they have no perceived authority to solve things, they don't set the lesson plan, and you also don't build the same kind of rapport with your peers across government, which is also super important.

Questions about the policy landscape are entirely legitimate, it’... by Max Stier

Questions about the policy landscape are entirely legitimate, it’s a different kettle of fish.

Career employees are responsible for executing the policy directi... by Max Stier

Career employees are responsible for executing the policy directives the president sets.

It’s the largest, most complex operation on the planet. by Max Stier

It’s the largest, most complex operation on the planet.

There are many layers of government that Douglas Smith might not... by Max Stier

There are many layers of government that Douglas Smith might not assume are involved.

The notion of cyber risk is profound, it's a battlefield that doesn't respect physical boundaries, one where we know the Russians already have been playing, and not just the Russians ; and it's one where we have significant vulnerability.