On the personnel front, the Trump administration had an up-and-down week. The departure of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and the withdrawal of Labor Secretary Andrew Puzder set Washington abuzz. But the Senate confirmed Michael Mulvaney as director of the Office of Management and Budget, Steve Mnuchin as Treasury secretary, and Dr. David Shulkin as VA secretary.

President Donald Trump will have the chance to name his own Secret Service director with the resignation — more accurately, return to retirement — of Joseph Clancy. He urged the president to appoint an outsider.

On the management front, Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller reported, a draft executive order was circulating among agencies. It will ask agency managers for ideas on how to reorganize the government. Specific areas of focus include consolidating duplicative programs, seeing what can be shifted to state and local government, and considering what functions might be done more efficiently by contractors.

Also in the executive order is reportedly an emphasis on use of agency shared services — an initiative stretching back to the Bush administration.

Trump also issued an executive order changing the Attorney General succession plan from the way it had been set up by the Obama administration. Should the AG, deputy AG and deputy assistant AG be unable to perform their duties, next in line would be the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, followed by the same titles in the northern district of Illinois, then the western district of Missouri.

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