President-elect Trump’s transition team has yet to fill more than 600 executive-level positions in his administration, causing concern for one senator about continuity in the executive branch given that the U.S. bombed Islamic State targets in Libya on Thursday.
“The world doesn’t stop and wait for us to have an inauguration,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said on CNN. “And, it’s so important for us to have continuity in the national security forum.”
CNN reported American bombers struck two camps inside of Libya Thursday morning as a part of an operation. The operation involved U.S. ships with cruise missiles were standing by to take part in the attack as well.
King said he’s worried about the Trump administration simply dismissing many Obama political appointees as soon as he’s sworn in at noon on Friday.
While U.S. diplomats have been told they’re out of a job as soon as the change in administrations takes place, King is concerned that people who are watching over nuclear weapons facilities will also be out of a job as soon as Trump’s president. He called it “unprecedented” for those positions to be emptied without someone being ready to take over the job.
“There’s a sort of sub-problem,” he said. “There are 690 so-called executive positions. So far, 29 have been appointed. That’s a long way to go, and often people on the second and third levels are where a lot of the decisions have to be made.”
He added he wishes the Trump team would “hold ’em longer for a few months or six months until you can fill the positions.”
