News

• Forty progressive groups—including MoveOn, Color of Change, and the Sunrise Movement—published a list of 400 recommended candidates for what they called "the most powerful positions nobody's ever heard of” in government.

• Bloomberg reported that Gary Gensler, the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara were in consideration to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other potential candidates named in the article were former SEC commissioner Kara Stein, SEC commissioner Allison Lee, former Treasury official Michael Barr, Georgetown Law professor Chris Brummer, and former SEC commissioner Robert Jackson Jr.

• Politico described Michèle Flournoy as the “consensus choice among establishment Washington” for secretary of defense. Flournoy was the undersecretary of defense during President Barack Obama’s first term in office.

• Politico also reported that Biden was considering Sen. Angus King (Maine), an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, for director of national intelligence. Maine is one of 37 states where Senate vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment until the next statewide general election. Maine Gov. Janet Mills is a Democrat. 

• According to data provided to CNN, 46% of Biden’s transition staff are people of color and 52% are women.

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What We’re Reading

• Government Executive: Former GSA Administrator Reflects on Ascertaining the Election in 2016
• Washington Post: Five myths about presidential transitions
• Yahoo News: Big Tech and Big Law dominate Biden transition teams, tempering progressive hopes