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No experience? No problem. Trump�s DEI Hire Cabinet raises concerns about government dysfunction.

Hired because they're white and loyal, no experience whatsoever.

Many of Trump�s controversial appointees are media figures who are
comfortable delivering propaganda and lies.



In emphasizing loyalty as he selects his team for a second
administration, President-elect Donald Trump often has overlooked another quality typically required for such jobs: High-level experience.

In the past, serving in a presidential Cabinet or as the head of a major federal agency usually came after many years of relevant experience at
the heights of government or the private sector.

But Trump�s pick to lead the Department of Education has just a year of experience overseeing public schools, his nominee to lead the FBI has
top-level experience in national security but not the criminal justice
system and his pick to lead the Department of Defense left the National
Guard as a midlevel officer.

Additionally, his pick to run the nation�s intelligence agencies is a
midlevel reserve officer with limited intelligence experience, his pick
to run the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of
Transportation are former congressmen not known for expertise in those
fields and his selection for health secretary is an environmental
attorney and health activist turned longshot presidential candidate.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard stand behind US President-elect
Donald Trump as they watch a fight during UFC 309 at Madison Square
Garden in New York, on November 16, 2024. Trump has nominated Kennedy and Gabbard for key roles in his administration.

Many of these individuals have never managed large numbers of people, yet
are poised to lead federal agencies that have tens of thousands of
employees. In the case of Pete Hegseth, Trump�s nominee for Defense
secretary, he would lead roughly 3 million people after most recently
working as a Fox News host.

Trump allies tout the picks as outside-the-beltway disruptors and strong communicators who will fulfill the president-elect's promises to shake up
the system. Their lack of time spent in Washington, D.C., is an asset,
not a liability, some argue, making them less beholden to a system they
view as needing reform. Many Trump voters across the nation are excited
about the selections.

Related:Trump�s Cabinet picks are generating controversy. For his
supporters, they�re just right.

The federal government has vast powers that extend to everything from war
to delivering the mail, food safety and rescuing people in a disaster. Mismanagement of these functions can be catastrophic, and is made more
likely when presidents elevate people primarily because they are
political allies, not leaders in their fields, some experts believe.

The raft of inexperienced nominees amounts to a big gamble with some of
the most important functions of the federal government, according to
former federal officials and experts on public administration.

�The problem we've seen over time is that the more ... you put emphasis
on personal loyalty at the expense of technical capacity and leadership experience, the more that you're likely to run into trouble when the
inevitably bad, difficult, complicated things happen,� said Donald Kettl,
a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland and former dean of its public policy school who wrote a book about government competency. �And
so that's the risk here.�

Questions about appointees' qualifications have come up for past administrations.

Former Democratic President John F. Kennedy appointed his brother, Robert
F. Kennedy - whose son is Trump's pick for Health and Human Services
secretary and also is facing questions about experience - as attorney
general and many people felt he was not experienced enough, said Lindsay Chervinsky, a presidential historian and executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library. There are other examples, too.
President John F. Kennedy listens as his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, speak at a White House ceremony May 7, 1963.

"It�s always possible to pick at individual nominees for individual
positions in individual administrations," Kettl said.

But it�s unusual to have so many top appointees with such thin resumes in
a modern Cabinet, said Chervinsky and Kettl.

"The overall lack of policy and management experience among Trump�s
appointees is unprecedented," Kettl said.

Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the president-elect's victory was a mandate "to change the status quo in Washington."

"That's why he has chosen brilliant and highly respected outsiders to
serve in his Administration, and he will continue to stand behind them as
they fight against all those who seek to derail the MAGA agenda," she
added.
'This isn't rocket science'
Jan 20, 2017; Washington, DC, USA; President Donald Trump is joined by
the Congressional leadership and his family as he formally signs his
cabinet nominations into law, in the President�s Room of the Senate, at
the Capitol. From left are Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Donald Trump Jr., Vice President Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, Karen Pence, Ivanka Trump, Barron Trump, Melania Trump, Speaker
of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif.,
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

In recent decades, for both Republican and Democratic presidents, high-
level experience was a basic qualification for these positions.

Trump followed that playbook with his first administration, taking a more traditional approach to stocking his Cabinet and often nominating
Republicans with long histories of service and relevant expertise, from
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to Attorney Generals Jeff Sessions and Bill
Barr and former National Security Advisers John Bolton and H.R. McMaster.

In that sense, Trump's second Cabinet is not just a departure from other presidents, but from his own record, Chervinsky said. One reason for
that: Many of the people Trump hired in his first administration ended up becoming critics.

He has spoken bitterly about some of the personnel decisions he made in
his first term, and wants people in his second term who are more
committed to his vision.

Trump and his political movement also have been hostile at times to
experts and the type of professional, technocratic leadership some view
as synonymous with what they dislike about the federal government and how
it has been run.

�This isn�t rocket science,� said Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga. �Ninety-nine
percent of what you do in life is just associations, it�s networking,
it�s people. There�s no formula over there in any of those agencies
that�s a secret."

A lack of appreciation for the complexities of public administration
hampered Trump's first presidency, though, said John Graham, an Indiana University professor who worked in former President George W. Bush's
White House in a Senate-confirmed job at the Office of Management and
Budget.

Trump pushed for deregulation, which requires federal rulemaking, and a
�very high proportion� of the rules proposed in his first term included �elementary errors,� Graham said.

�With good people, they would have been a lot more efficient and
effective with doing their agenda," he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump (2nd R) holds his first cabinet meeting at
the White House in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2017. Pictured are Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (L-R), Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Director Mick Mulvaney, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Administrator Scott Pruitt, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tom Price, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Former Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., said some of Trump's picks "may not
have as much effectiveness as they would like," because of the lack of management experience.

If the risk of having inexperienced people is an unintentional disruption
or poorly executed policy, some Trump allies see them as better
positioned to deliver the type of intentional disruption they are eager
to see in Washington.

The fact that Linda McMahon, who served as small business administrator
during Trump's first administration and now is his pick to lead the
Department of Education, has little experience with the public education
system �does not matter to me,� said Tina Descovich, co-founder of
conservative education activist group Moms for Liberty. It�s an asset in
fixing a "broken" system, Descovich said.

�If something�s broken, you need to put new fresh ideas and faces in
there and that�s Linda McMahon,� Descovich said.
Linda McMahon, former administrator of the Small Business Administration, addresses the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18,
2024.

More broadly, Descovich said people are tired of �out of touch elites
making decisions on their behalf" and argued Trump's nominees often are
more representative of �ordinary people," even as McMahon and others are extremely wealthy.
Controversial picks

While many MAGA activists might view people with Washington experience
with suspicion, lack of high-level credentials could be a concern for
some senators during the confirmation process.

Trump ran on shaking up the system and was widely expected to have a less traditional Cabinet this time, but some of his unconventional picks are
testing lawmakers� willingness to depart from norms surrounding the
resume needed to serve at the highest levels of the federal government.

�He�s chosen some nominees that are completely inexperienced,
unqualified, whose only qualification is their utter, not even loyalty so
much as sycophancy,� said U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Schiff is most concerned about Hegseth, director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director nominee Kash Patel.

Hegseth is a combat veteran who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with the
Army National Guard. He ran a pair of veteran's groups but didn�t reach
the highest levels of the military, other government agencies, or the
defense industry, as defense secretaries typically do.

Instead, Hegseth attracted Trump�s attention as a Fox host who is
outspoken about combating perceived �woke� military policies.
President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Defense Secretary Pete
Hegseth meets with U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) (not pictured), on
Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 10, 2024.

Gabbard also is a midlevel officer, serving as a lieutenant colonel in
the U.S. Army Reserve. She spent eight years in Congress as a Democrat
but didn�t serve on the Intelligence Committee. She spent her last two
years on an intelligence subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee and
also served on the Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees.
Gabbard ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat and endorsed Trump�s 2024
bid.

Patel worked as a public defender and federal prosecutor before
attracting Trump�s attention through his work for congressional
Republicans pushing back against claims that Trump�s 2016 campaign
coordinated with Russia. He joined Trump�s first administration as a
deputy at the National Security Council and was chief of staff to the
acting secretary of Defense when Trump left office.

More:Kash Patel, Trump's choice to head FBI, appeared on QAnon-themed
show

William Webster, who served under both Democratic and Republican
presidents and was the only individual to lead both the FBI and CIA,
recently wrote a letter to senators raising concerns about Patel�s �impartiality and integrity� and what he described as Gabbard�s �profound
lack of intelligence experience.�

Other Trump picks that raise questions about experience include his
nominees for various health care roles, Lee Zeldin to run the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Sean Duffy to run the Department of Transportation. Zeldin and Duffy are both former congressmen without significant public profiles in the sectors they will oversee.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump�s pick to lead the Department of Health and
Human Services, worked as an environmental attorney for decades before
running for president last year and endorsing Trump after dropping out.
The health issue he is best known for is his criticism of vaccine safety,
which he has pursued through his Children's Health Defense nonprofit.

The nation�s health agencies are vast, spend huge sums and employ tens of thousands of people. Yet Trump�s picks to lead them don�t have experience running large federal agencies, and most haven�t held other high-level management roles.

Some of Trump�s nominees for top government positions do have
considerable leadership experience and relevant expertise, including his
picks for secretaries of State, Interior, Treasury, Homeland Security and Commerce, along with attorney general.
Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the FBI, walks through the U.S. Capitol after meeting with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
in Washington, on Dec. 10, 2024.

Concerns about experience are just one issue that Trump's more
controversial nominees are facing.

Hegseth's personal life has drawn attention. He was accused of sexual
assault, which he denies. Gabbard's perceived sympathetic views about
foreign dictators such as Russia's Vladimir Putin and Syria's recently
deposed Bashar al-Assad are concerning for some lawmakers, while Kennedy
is a target for some conservatives because of his past support for
abortion rights, and has faced questions about his vaccine skepticism.
Patel's critics worry he would compromise the DOJ's independence and
exact retribution on Trump's behalf.
'Experience matters'

Trump has pledged to make big changes to federal agencies, and some of
his more controversial Cabinet picks are expected to lead those efforts.

Trump�s agenda includes abolishing the Department of Education,
overhauling the Department of Justice and intelligence agencies and
rolling back military policies he opposes, including diversity programs.
Former Rep. Sean Duffy speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee hearing on his nomination to be Secretary of Transportation on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.

The people he has chosen to lead these agencies are viewed as disruptors
who will pursue aggressive policies, and their lack of Washington, D.C., experience is viewed by some conservatives as an asset, making them
outsiders who will take on entrenched interests.

Hegseth has criticized "woke" military policies, a complaint echoed by
Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas.

"The other side may have known how to manage groups of people ... but
their policies were disruptive within the organization," Sessions said.

The federal government is complex, though, and lacking knowledge about
how agencies work could lead to unintentional consequences if agencies
are mismanaged.

�Experience does matter. Each of these agencies is very big and very complicated,� said Elaine Kamarck, founding director of the Center for Effective Public Management at The Brookings Institution.

Kamarck worked in Democratic politics before joining former President
Bill Clinton�s administration and leading its National Performance
Review, known as the reinventing government initiative.

The effort cut regulations and federal spending. It also looked to the
private sector to make government more efficient.

Trump has launched something similar with his new Department of
Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by entrepreneurs and close allies
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
President-elect Donald Trump greets Elon Musk as he arrives to view the
launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19,
2024, in Brownsville, Texas.

Kamarck said there�s plenty about how the government functions that can
be improved, but having a basic understanding of how government agencies
work is important.

�The problem with inexperienced people is they don�t know enough about
how it works in the first place to be able to fix it if it needs fixing,� Kamarck said.

The government also performs important functions that could spark an
outcry if disrupted.

�The most serious consequence is it blows up in your face,� Kamarck said.

Kettl pointed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency�s handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as an example of the pitfalls of staffing an
agency with an unqualified leader.

Then-FEMA Director Michael Brown had little experience in emergency
management when former President George W. Bush tapped him to lead the
agency in 2003. A lawyer, Brown worked at the International Arabian Horse Association for a decade before joining FEMA as general counsel in 2001.

Brown led the Bush administration�s response to Katrina and was widely
blamed for moving too slowly to help people.
Former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael Brown responds to questioning during a hearing by the Senate Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs Committee on Hurricane Katrina response on
Capitol Hill in Washington, February 10, 2006.

Katrina has long been seen as a black mark on Bush�s presidency, one that
hurt public confidence in his administration and hampered the
effectiveness of his second term.

�There's a kind of universal consensus at this point that the federal government's initial response to the hurricane was kind of another
disaster, just in itself, because FEMA fumbled the response,� Kettl said.

Graham believes these public administration skills are more important for
the No. 2 person at an agency and those lower down the chain of command, though. Cabinet officials often are more figureheads than policy
implementers, he said.

Many of Trump�s controversial appointees are media figures who are
comfortable delivering propaganda and lies.

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