This superbly written, brief book is an overview of the abysmal consequences of the Trump team's total failure to transition and manage three relatively low profile federal departments. The fifth risk of the title is 'project management', which is a widespread fear of many former managers occasioned by the incompetence and neglect of the current administration. The Bush administration prepared for and handed off their responsibilities with the utmost professionalism. The Obama administration did the same, but realized there was no one to hand off to in 2017. Chris Christie was in charge of the transition when Trump called him in and screamed that he "wanted his fucking money" back and not wasted on transition planning. Christie's efforts were to no avail because he was fired the day after the election. When he asked Bannon why, he was told Jared. After all, Christie had put Jared's father in jail a decade earlier. The entire transition team was fired. Bannon's reaction was, "Holy fuck, this guy doesn't know anything. And, he doesn't give a shit."
Both the previous two administrations sent 30-40 prepared professionals to each department the day after the election. At the Department of Energy, no one showed up for over a month. All of the top managers left on January 20th without talking to anyone on the Trump team. The outgoing DOE Secretary was a nuclear physicist. The incoming Secretary, Rick Perry, did not know what the department did and was characterized by Trump as someone "who should be forced to take an IQ test." Most people believe the department has something to do with oil and gas, but it really is about nuclear energy. It manages the three labs, Sandia, Livermore and Los Alamos, that are responsible for our nuclear arsenal. It works on overseas nuclear non-proliferation and on the clean up of nuclear waste in the US. It is currently trying to clean up Hanford in Washington, where two-thirds of all our plutonium was manufactured. In essence, the department deals with some of the most consequential risks the nation faces. Lewis interviewed the top 20 managers in the department and if they had been replaced, it was by someone totally unqualified, one example of whom was Eric Trump's brother-in-law. At the Dept. of Agriculture, the story repeated itself with unknowing, young critics showing up a month after the election. Two high level appointments were a country club cabana attendant and the owner of a scented candle company. Wilbur Ross, the new head at Commerce, was one of only three people in history to ever deceive Forbes about getting on their 400 richest list. Most people wanted to avoid it like the plague.The other two were a Saudi prince and of course, Donald Trump. The department is mislabeled, and according to a former higher up there, it should be called Technology and Science. NOAA takes up 60% of its budget. The man put in charge of NOAA was the former CEO of Accu Weather, the company that packaged NOAA's free weather information and charged for it. Even though NOAA pioneered weather forecasting and is considered the best in the world, he had lobbied for it to stop dealing with the public.
I'm afraid this simply is not up to the usual standards of Michael Lewis. It feels like it was haphazardly put together, and apparently it was. There are two Vanity Fair articles here along with an audiobook original.
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