Get started let me center best wishes for a speedy recovery to President Trump, the first lady, as well as all the officials who work closely with the president. One month out from november 3 americans across the country have already started voting in the most important president ial election in a generation. President elect joe biden for reelected President Donald Trump will face a double digit unemployment situation and a global pandemic, a reckoning on racial inequality and a divided nation. The one institution that could help address these problems is the federal government. The federal government needs to be effective if it will deliver for the American People. That is why preparation and planning today is critical for effectiveness on january 20. Regardless of your wins a smooth transition this year is not enough in this year we need the best transition ever in american history. Should Vice President biden win the challenges are truly daunting. In normal times a new president faces mammoth attacks, of 70 day period to select a government, select clinical appointees, manage almost a 5 trilliondollar budget and rollout and ambitious policy agenda. That is in normal time but today is not normal and in addition to normal challenges i just mentioned the next president will have to get 13 Million People back to work and distribute 330 million vaccines and bring our country back together again. Should President Trump win the transition will also be incredibly challenging. Our data from the last three twoterm presidency suggests almost half of the top officials across the government will leave within six months of this inauguration, half and thats a normal but unfortunately when it comes on top of what is 133 senior positions that are currently vacant without incompetence or without a nominee so a huge challenge for a reelected President Trump will get competent people to serve. Perforation as we have learned from our podcast transitional add is essential in your four year five. If there is a change in administration the outgoing credit will also have a solemn responsibility under law to facilitate a smooth transition, much as president george w. Bush did for incoming president barack obama. Transitions are always hard and they are chaotic and the time is short, 70 days and if the election is not decided on november 3 there will be even less time ready for day one will become or difficult because every day will matter and that is why this event talking transitions comes at such an important time. We are pleased to be hosting this first event of its kind in a nonpartisan event in association with the truly amazing president ial libraries for the past four president s in the George BarbaraBush Foundation the clinton president ial center and george w. Bush president ial center and the obama and the leading Research Center in the country and thank you all for your incredible support, partnership and collaboration are work has never been more important and for poor president ial cycles we have worked to make transitions better, smoother and faster because the success of a presidency is directly correlated with the success of their transition and throughout we worked with the three most important actors, the Trump White House, the career officials across the government who are. For either eventuality as well as the biden team and we have thousands of people watching these events but the Largest Group represents the dedicated Career Agency officials transition planning and they must prepare for either eventuality of President Trump or new President Biden. We like how hard and delicate the work is everyday and we are just support you and salute you. I want to thank a few people before heading over to former congress secretary. Max stier has a been an advocate for more effective transition planning before anybody else focused on it. Second the center has a truly worldclass Advisory Board one i benefited from sage advice from counsel and support in my longtime friend president clintons first chief of staff who i called the godfather of smooth transitions. Governor mike who led the transition planning effort created a new Gold Standard for transition planning and hes one of the few people whos been equally successful in business, and government and philanthropy. Id also like to thank the amazing teams is a partnership for the libraries and the center who have pulled this event together. With that when we turn over to teddy. David, thank you for that very gracious welcome. Let me begin by wishing the president and the first lady a speedy recovery. David, youve been a tremendous leader of this vital project and we are grateful that you have dedicated your time and energy to this important effort to the benefit of our nation. We are also so very grateful to your dedicated team at the center for their long hours to support assault. And the timing of todays conversation cannot come at a more critical point for our nation. Given the weighted issues we face, both candidates will not only have to campaign vigorously but also need to prepare to run the country for the next four years. The diverse and sizable audience we have today reflects the interests in the president ial transition if the process is not well under certain but we have people from capitol hill, private industry, government organizations, transition subject matter experts, political appointees and those who serve on campaigns and Transition Teams and the media. We also welcome the money federal career staff joining us this morning. Your expertise, Institutional Knowledge and willingness to support administrations from both parties during a president ial transition and over the life of each administration is to be commended and we are sincerely very grateful for your Public Service. Let me just say as a person that came from someone in the Government Service and was given the honor of a lifetime serving in president obamas cabinet, i was blown away by the incredible talent, expertise and innovative spirit of the career professionals, not only in the apartment of commerce but across the entire government. Quite honestly, some of the most capable people i have ever worked with with the career professionals in the National Institute of standards and technology in the National Atmospheric administration and the bureau of industry and security, census bureau, National Weather service and so many more important offices within our government. Day in and day out they do the significantly important work on behalf of all of us and frankly, a day that too little credit are given credit for it. I want to thank them all. In terms of our events today the calla bullet of our speakers in the testament to the nonpartisan convening power of the partnership and their vital work for federal government work better. It demonstrates the impact of the centers ability to provide support, expertise and resources for a wide variety of groups that are transition stakeholders, including federal agencies, political appointees and president ial Transition Teams. The Center Brings unparalleled capacity to support president ial transition planning and execution. Their work has gone deeper and broader than any other. [audio difficulties] and the body Transition Team. What i am honored to serve as cochair of this critical effort along with matt mccarty, josh bolton and mike lovett, three simply extraordinary Public Servants that i am blessed to learn from and call my friends. As david said todays program is a oneofakind event that draws together highly respected group of officials from every administration from bush 412 obama, president ial scholars and respected journalists. One of most important of our democracy and our commitment to the transition of power. The purposes of this event is to inform the public about how president ial candidates Transition Teams and the federal government critical to the success or for a president s second term. By design we do not have representatives from the Current Administration. Given our desire for each discussion to remain nonpartisan and to the extent practical and nonpolitical. In our first Panel Margaret brennan faced the nation moderator and Senior Foreign Affairs correspondent in cbs news will moderate conversation with josh bolton, andy card, Denis Mcdonagh and matt mccarty. For outstanding former white house chief of staff and they will talk about their experiences preparing to take office, transitioning to a second term, planning to leave office and what to expect in 2020, and in 2021. Melody barnes former director of the mastic policy council will then lead a discussion with steven hadley, lisa monaco, Barbara Perry and john podesta about transitionsn crises and why this transition time could be the most important and consequential since 1932. Let me say one thing about john podesta. He has more senior transition experience than probably any other living person and could have been on the first panel and in fact, we asked him to be on the panel but on reflection we and john thought given his experience in the 202008 transition where he led the obama transition during a financial crisis and two wars he would be hugely value added on the second panel entitled, transitions in crisis. And that may be perhaps the most relevant topic for today. For our final panel amy Walter National editor of Cook Political Report will talk with four incredible Public Servants, alexis herman, valerie jarrett, karen hughes and margaret spelling. They talk about the complexities involved with the shift from campaigning for the presidency to governing when elected in either first or second term. And to our audience, thank you so much for joining us today and for your many excellent questions. We hope to get to them as best we can throughout the mornings program. You can also be a part of todays conversation on twitter by following at Public Service and by using the talking transition. So now i would like to hand the program over to Margaret Brennan for our first panel. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for all the nonpartisan work you do responding to the public how the institutions of support or democracy function or are supposed to function. This is an extraordinary morning and i think all of us have woken up to this news with a little bit of shock and the one certainty of 2020 seems to be that nothing is certain in expect the unexpected. Its a conversation today to have this powerhouse set of mines who been inside the west wing inside the very high levels to talk us through what planning needs to look like, what it shouldve looks like and what it is like in a moment of crisis. We are, of course, battling multiple crises as a country. Economics, health, racial strife, election uncertainty and now this news this morning. I want to start by bringing in, by the way to the conversation with the chief, will be a question for all of you is that we are four years into the trump administration. Are they ready . Is mike pence ready for what is happening right now . You set the table just perfectly as you always do. Margaret, i think all of us as chief of staff would agree the Vice President ial pick, decision is an important one during the campaign and if we ship for that campaign, the criteria for Vice President is he or she needs to be ready to step in if it is a moment that requires that and be able to discharge their responsibilities as commanderinchief as president of the United States. So clearly that is clearly from day one and absolute essential ingredient or element of any effective administration. If i were chief this morning you would be focusing on that. You would certainly be fully engaged with the president and his family at this time and you would as always, you would have a multiple number of other issues that would be confronted you even at times that were quite desperate not quite as unsettling or an president as these. Lets go to andy card. You know what its like to be chief, to be in that job of extreme National Crisis. What do you do on a a moment, a morning like this . First of all, i pray for the president of the first leg and i dont care what your political stripe is or what your philosophy is or bias may be. We all pray that the president and the first lady will recover quickly and be able to meet their responsibilities. I also point out the white house has to keep everything working the matter whats going on. The first responsibility for a chief of staff is to make sure people in the white house have confidence to be able to do their job and give them permission to do their job and not to try to trump into somebody elses laying or be distracted by our events or distracted by the president s inability [inaudible] such as having discipline i think in confidence and steady hand makes a big difference. Its important for the chief of staff to maintain the momentum that every cabinet member has been asked to maintain if you got into the policies and objectives. [inaudible] as chief of staff i would say my job would be to help the government responsibilities and let the camping world about the campaign responsibilities but it is not an easy time. The truth is, its the time when you have to be prepared for other things to happen. These unexpected challenges are likely to show up and put people to have confidence in our government, confidence in our democracy. I view it as the white house responsibility to may be set the expectation up so that people will have confidence and government can function during these times of trouble. We are seeing a public that is riddled and exciting right now and questioning some of our institutions, now this. What would you be doing if you were chief . Do we need to ask members of the public see the president come out today . What do you need to signal to the public today . You need to signal to the public government is operating efficiently, normally, naturally and its president is available. Put it on camera as well. Let me add my own best wishes to those my call the scum of the and thanks to the Public Service, President Foundation and you margaret, for bringing us together on this important topic. The topic gets more important when we face a disruption, i crisis like were having right now. In essence this kind of a dry run for what we may be facing around election day. I want to get into some of the specifics right election to in a moment but i do want to get douglas madonna a chance to jump in and give his say on what we need to hear from the president today, from joe biden perhaps even, what needs to be signal and if you were chief what would you be doing . Thanks a lot, and i want to thank my fellow chiefs for the chance to be with them. I always enjoy that. I want to thank david and katie for all the work and partnership. Look, the first and most important thing is what Vice President biden has said today and what the three chiefs have d said. You started with, margaret, which is pray for a speedy recovery for the first family, go out obviously and as far as her ongoing appreciation for that medical staff inside the white house which has been working overtime since last january when this news first broke. Look, i think demonstrating that the government is at work is really important. Hopefully reassuring to the American People. I think that was really what was behind the written communication from the white house chief physician overnight. Obviously gst sounds to me like the white house is talk about trying to get some very clear evidence of the president at work today and that would make sense. I would just add one thing that points my colleagues have already made which be we do have troops all around the world right now. We have allies all around the world and i would expect any communication not only with the cabinet but also communication from the white house to our allies that obviously we are continuing here official business continues year and it will be prudent as well as careful about the developments with first family, but also continue to be focused as mac, abie and josh headset on the official business of government that includes staying vigilant with our allies. We know this morning the president is symptomatic, though from our reporting he is mildly symptomatic at this point back. The question of how ill he becomes is something that we frankly hope to learn more about. As you point out potential and National Security crisis. Because of the question of competence. Josh bolten, i want to go back to you and something you raised in your first answer. We as a country because of the high anxiety are asking so many questions about basic civics about how transitions were, about the lectures going to work in the details are so keen and support because of this unprecedented circumstance in which the next election will be having with his global pandemic. Given your observations of the campaign and the transition planning that is happening behind the scenes, how confident are you, what concerns do you have about a transition either a second President Tr