WASHINGTON, DC (Politico) –It’s a Washington ritual that over the years has tripped up big-shot nominees, intimidated small-fry job-seekers, and turned countless Beltway types into character witnesses for friends and co-workers.
And now it may be on the verge of extinction.
I’m talking, of course, about the official background check, the process that has subjected appointees to FBI examination since the Eisenhower years — but which the incoming Trump administration appears keen on ignoring when it comes to the president-elect’s top picks.
Typically, incoming administrations arrange with the bureau to run background checks on nominees even before taking office. But Trump, who has a long history of hostility toward the FBI, has yet to work out such an arrangement, even as he’s nominated a number of people who appear to have significant issues. Even if they ultimately work out a deal, it may well involve a less rigorous set of protocols than the ones that have long prevailed in Washington.
The potential end of the formal vetting process will be front and center when the Senate considers Trump’s nominees in January. So will an even more attention-getting question raised by Trump’s selections: Should we move past the expectation that presidential appointees should have squeaky-clean personal records?
But a quieter conversation is going on already among insiders who work on the often infuriating background-check ritual: What would such a transformation mean for how the capital does business?
“I have clients who go before the Senate confirmation process, and it will change the way I advise and analyze them,” Dan Meyer, a veteran national security lawyer, said of Trump’s sidestepping of the FBI. Rather than focus on the “generalized standards” that guide official background checks, getting a client confirmed will involve strategizing about the specific tastes of the senators making the choice.
