One of the fruits of Donald Trump's unexpected victory is the opportunity to fill thousands of U.S. government political positions. But he lacks a deep personnel bench. Personnel are policy. That became the mantra of the incoming Reagan administration, of which I was a part back in 1980. Unfortunately, Team Reagan often failed to act accordingly.
President-elect Trump should avoid making a similar mistake. Politico reported that "Trump and his aides ... are leaning heavily on the sort of D.C. insiders that the billionaire railed against on the campaign trail." This could prove especially disastrous in foreign policy.
The president-elect obviously has strong though ill-formed opinions. He collected a wide variety of advisers with little unity of views. Implementing his vision will require the right personnel. He needs staffers who reject the promiscuous intervention that characterized both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.