Transition and continuityMany Bush officials retained at DHS

Eager not to be caught short-handed in case of a domestic crisis, the Obama administration has asked nearly two dozen Bush administration officials at DHS to stay in their jobs until successors can be named. The Washington Post’s Spencer Hsu writes that this effort at continuity is unusual in presidential transitions between parties, which typically lead to wholesale purging of politically appointed personnel. At the Justice Department, for example, almost no Bush holdovers remain beyond Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip, who is acting as attorney general pending confirmation of Obama nominee Eric Holder, and Filip’s two top aides.

By contrast, DHS secretary Janet Napolitano has retained the department’s second-ranking official, Deputy Secretary Paul Schneider, and its top border security official, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham, as well as its operations director and the assistant secretaries responsible for policy and private sector coordination. The heads of the Coast Guard and Secret Service, who are not political appointees, and DHS undersecretary for management Elaine Duke, whose tenure is set by law, also remain.