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1-Page Summary of The Fifth Risk
Overview
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis is a journalistic account of how the Trump administration has ignored or dismantled various government agencies. The author interviewed former employees from three key government agencies to hear their accounts of what happened during the transition period, as well as why they left those positions. What they told him was deeply unsettling and should worry all Americans.
The American government is a group of project managers who oversee many different risks. There are diseases, natural disasters, terrorists and other threats that constantly present themselves. The US has two million employees to make sure these bad things never happen or to mitigate the effects when they do happen.
When power changes hands from one president to the next, there is a steep learning curve and chaotic process. As President Barack Obama prepared to finish his second term, he asked a team of thousands to organize transition documents and procedures of unprecedented scope for the next administration.
The Trump team, however, was not interested in the memos and meetings that Obama’s appointees had spent more than a year preparing. If Trump showed little interest in preparing for a transition before he was elected, he showed even less after he won. Chris Christie attempted to lead a capable transition team for Trump during the election despite Trump’s objections, but Christie was fired by Steve Bannon after the election. All of Christie’s preparations were discarded without being replaced. Whereas past presidents sent teams of people into government agencies right after Election Day, the Trump team contacted no one. Most agencies spoke to a single representative from the new administration for as little as an hour or two about what they do and how they operate when they had prepared months earlier to spend several months explaining their functions and operations to an able-bodied group of individuals who could understand them well enough to follow through with them under President Obama’s leadership.
Michael Lewis collected the “lost briefings” of top government officials who served under Barack Obama. They all agree that North Korea and Iran are threats to US security, as is the electrical grid. Some say project management is a bigger threat than others do, but they’re all concerned about it.
In his meeting with the Department of Energy, Steven Lewis learned that half the budget is used to protect and prevent nuclear theft. However, Rick Perry was appointed as head of DOE even though he once wanted to eliminate it.
The Department of Agriculture is tasked with helping the poor. However, most of those who benefit from this agency voted for Trump, and his administration wants to reduce funding for food stamps and loan programs.
The Department of Commerce is an agency that collects a lot of data. It’s also in charge of the US Census, which informs people about natural disasters and other things. The country’s weather-related data is at risk because Trump has nominated someone from AccuWeather to lead NOAA, which collects those types of data. Many government websites have already disappeared their information, and they might be privatized for profit companies like AccuWeather even though the information was funded by taxpayers.
Even the most well-informed presidents are ignorant about many things, and Trump was no different. He didn’t have a lot of experience in government, so he dismantled or ignored basic functions of government that put all Americans at risk.
