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 preparation, as we learned on our podcast is essential in year four 2year 5. If theres a change in administration the outgoing president will have a solemn responsibility under law to facilitate a smooth transition much as george w. Bush did for incoming president barack obama. Transitions are always hard, they are chaotic, the time is short, 78 days this cycle. If the election is not decided on november 3rd there will be less time getting ready for day one will become more difficult because every day will matter. That is why this events talking transitions comes at such an important time. We are pleased to host this first event of its kind, nonpartisan event in association with the truly amazing president ial libraries for the past four president s, george and barbara bush foundation, the clinton residential center, the george w. Bush president ial center, the Obama Foundation and uva Miller Center, the leading Research Center in the country on the american presidency. Thank you for your incredible support, partnership and cooperation. Our work at the partnership has never been more important. For four 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 this cycle we worked with the three most important actors, the Trump White House, career officials across the government preparing for either even she walid as well as the body. Thousands of people watching this event, the Largest Group represents the dedicated Career Agency officials have with transitions coming under the law. They must prepare with any eventuality, reelected donald trump or a new President Biden. We realize how hard and how delicate your work is every day, we support you and salute you. I want to thank a few people before handing it over to the advocate for more president ial transition planning than before anybody else focused on it. The center has a truly worldclass advisory, one that is from sage advice counsel and support. My longterm friend mac mccarty, president clintons for his chief of staff, josh holton, president bushs chief of staff who i call the godfather of smooth transitions, romney didnt win but created a new Gold Standard for transition planning. And one of the few people i know who has been equally successful in business and government and philanthropy. Let me think the amazing teams at the libraries at the Miller Center who pulled this events together. Let me turn it over to penny. Thank you for that gracious welcome. Let me begin by wishing the president and first lady a speedy recovery. You have been a tremendous leader of this vital project and we are so grateful youve dedicated your time and energy to this important effort to the benefit of our nation. We are grateful to your dedicated team at the center for their long hours to support the timing of todays conversation could not come at a more critical point for our nation given the weight of issues we face both candidates will not only have to campaign vigorously, they also have to prepare to run the country for the next four years. The diverse and sizable audience we have today reflects the interests people have in a president ial transition even if the process is not well understood. We have people from capitol hill, private industry, government organizations, transition subject matter experts, political appointees, those who serve on campaigns and Transition Teams in the media. We also welcome for many federal career professional staff 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. We are sincerely very grateful for your Public Service. Would let me say as a person who came from business and Government Service and 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 department of commerce but across the entire government. Quite honestly the most capable people i have ever worked with word of a career professionals in National Institute of standards and technology, National Oceanic and atmospheric administration, the bureau of industry and security, the census bureau, the National Weather service and so many more important offices within our government. Day in and day out, significantly important work on behalf of all of us and they get too little credible respect for it. I want to thank them all. In terms of our evened today the caliber of our speakers is a testament to the nonpartisan power of the partnership for Public Service and their vital work to make the federal government work better. It demonstrates the impact of the centers ability to provide support, expertise and resources to 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 than any other cycle, 3 main stakeholders, federal officials and the biden Transition Team. I am honored to serve as cochair of this critical effort along with mac mccarty, josh bolton, extraordinary Public Servants who i am blessed to learn from and call my friend. As david said the program, a 1ofakind event to draw together a highly respected group of senior officials from bush 412 obama, president ial scholars and respected journalists, one of the most importance of our democracy, to the transition of power. The purpose of this event is to inform the public about how president ial candidates Transition Teams and the federal government are critical to the success or 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 nonpolitical. In our first Panel Margaret brennan, face the nation moderator and Senior Foreign Affairs correspondent will moderate a conversation with josh bolton, andy card, Denis Mcdonough and mack mclarty for outstanding former white house chief of staff. They will talk about their experiences preparing to take office, transitioning to a second term, planning to leave office and what to expect in 20202021. Melody barnes will lead a discussion with Stephen Hadley, lisa monaco, barbara parry, and john podesta about transition and crises and why this transition period could be the most important and consequential since 1932. Let me say one thing about john podesta. He has more senior transition experience than any other living person, could have been on the first panel and we asked him to be on the panel that on reflection, we thought given his experiences in the 2008 transition where he led the obama transition during a financial crisis and two wars he would be hugely valueadded in the second panel in vital transitions in crisis. That may be the most relevant topic for today. For our final panel, and me walter of the Cook Political Report will talk about four Public Servants, valerie jarrett, karen hughes and margaret fallon, the complexities involved in shift and campaigning for the presidency to governing when elected in a first or second term. To our audience, thank you for joining us, for your many excellent questions, we hope to get them as best as we can to the morning program. You can be part of todays conversation on twitter by following Public Service by using the hashtag talking transition. I would like to hand the program over to Margaret Brennan for the first panel. Thank you. Thank you very much to the partnership for all the nonpartisan work you do to explain to the public how the institutions that support our democracy function or are supposed to function. This is an extraordinary morning. All of us have woken up to this news with a little bit of shock, one certainty of 2020 seems to be nothing is certain and to expect the unexpected. This is a conversation to have to have been inside the west wing at the highest level to help talk us through was planning needs to look like, what it should look like and what it is like in a moment of crisis, we are battling multiple crises as a country right now, economic, health, racial strife, election and certainty and now this news this morning. I want to start by digging in right away to this conversation, it will be a question for all of you, we are four years into the Trump Administration. Are they ready . Is mike pence ready for what is happening right now . Mack mclarty if you were chief of staff what would you be doing a morning like this . Thank you for your engagement in underscoring the importance of doing this on a nonpartisan basis, thank you for your leadership, you set the table just perfectly as you always do. All of us, chief of staff would agree the Vice President ial pick decision is an important one during the campaign, shifting from that campaign to governing, the criteria for a Vice President , he or she needs to be ready to step in the moment it requires that and be able to discharge responsibilities as commanderinchief, president of the United States, that is from day one absolute essential ingredient of any effective administration. If i were chief this morning we would be focusing on that, certainly fully engaged with the president and his family at this time and as you will comment, multiple number of other issues, the inevitable confronting you even in times that are not quite as interested and unsettling as these. Lets go to andy card. You know what it is like to be chief, to be in that job of extreme national crisis. What would you do on a morning like this . I dont care what your political stripe is a your philosophy, we all pray the president and first lady will recover quickly and be able to meet responsibilities. I also point out the white house has to keep everything working no matter what is going on. Make sure people in the white house have the confidence to do their job and give them permission to do their job and not try to jump into somebody elses lane or be distracted by these events or the president s inability to attend meetings as he normally would. Just having discipline and confidence makes a big difference. It is important for the chief of staff to maintain the momentum every cabinet member has been asked to maintain. With regard to policy objectives, i would leave the Campaign Work to the campaign people. As chief of staff i would say my job is to help the government meet its responsibilities, let the campaign worry about the campaign responsibilities. The truth is you have to be prepared for things to happen. These unexpected challenges are likely to show up and we want people to have confidence in our government, confidence in our democracy. The white houses responsibility to set the expectation so people will have confidence their governments can function during these times of trouble. We are seeing a public that is questioning so many institutions, what would you be doing if you were chief . Ask members of the public to see the president come out today. What do you need to signal to the public today . You need a signal to the public the government is operating normally, naturally and the president is available, on camera as well. Let me at my best wishes to my colleagues, the first family and thanks to the partnership for Public Service, president ial foundation for bringing us together in this important topic. The topic gets more important when we face disruption and potential crisis like we are having now, a dry run for what we may be facing around election day. I want to get into specifics around election day in a moment but i want to give Denis Mcdonough a chance to jump in, what do we need to hear from the president , from joe biden, what needs to be signaled and what would you be doing . Thanks a lot. I want to thank you for the chance to be here, i always enjoy that, david and penny for all their work especially at this timely event today. The first and most important thing was Vice President biden said which was our thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery for the first family go out obviously and express ongoing appreciation for the medical staff in the white house which has been working overtime since last january when this broke. Demonstrating the government is at work is important, hopefully reassuring to the American People. That was behind the written communication, it does sounds to me like the white house is talking about trying to get some clear evidence of the president at work today and that would make sense. I will add one thing, we have troops around the world, allies around the world and i would expect communication not only with the cabinet as everyone referred to but communication from the white house that obviously work continues and it would be prudent and careful about developments with the first family and continue to be focused on the official business of the government and that includes staying vigilance with our allies. The president is symptomatic. It is mildly symptomatic at this point. The question of how ill he becomes, something we hope to learn more about, National Security crisis because of the question of competence. I want to go back to you, something you raised in your first answer. We as a country because of this high anxiety are asking so many questions about basic civics of how transitions work, how the election is going to work, it is so keen and important because of this unprecedented circumstance in which the next election will be happening with the global pandemic. Given your observations of the campaign and the transition planning that is happening, how confident are you . What concerns do you have about a transition into a trump or Biden Administration . The good news is everybody should be comforted at the kind of work going on in both places to prepare for a transition, that work is more substantial and intense with respect to potential biden presidency but they come a like other campaigns before them, not all but most campaigns in recent times have taken the transition very seriously, they are likely to be well positioned to take over despite the difficulty with potentially multiple crises they will be inheriting. I saw that firsthand in 20089 with the obama transition which was run by john podesta, very professional, very well organized, a good partner and we are seeing the same with the biden team. On that side, we also know that Trump White House is taking their responsibility seriously and they are hoping and planning to remain in power going through but i hope they are treating it as an opportunity to refresh and reset. You are talking about the mechanics of the process behind the scene led by others on the team that is transitioning. The president s remarked of what a transition might look like