The Biden-Harris transition team just posted agency review teams here. They describe these teams as follows:
Agency review teams are responsible for understanding the operations of each agency, ensuring a smooth transfer of power, and preparing for President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris and their cabinet to hit the ground running on Day One. These teams are composed of highly experienced and talented professionals with deep backgrounds in crucial policy areas across the federal government. The teams have been crafted to ensure they not only reflect the values and priorities of the incoming administration, but reflect the diversity of perspectives crucial for addressing America’s most urgent and complex challenges.
Over on Twitter, trade reporter Shawn Donnan explained their role as follows:
I think their role will look a lot like the teams we've seen in the past. Two real priorities: 1. Advise on lists of candidates, particularly for deputy and other political appointee slots (USTR will come from on high, I suspect). And 2. Produce issue papers/poss plans.
The team for USTR has an interesting mix of progressives and moderates. I tried to classify each person as "progressive/critic" or "moderate/establishment." Those are broad categories, with a lot of variation within each one. (And, of course, if anyone wants to object to their characterization, they should feel free to reach out to me. For some of them I had to guess a bit!)
| Jason Miller, Team Lead | Deputy Director, National Economic Council during Obama administration | moderate/establishment |
| Kathleen Claussen | University of Miami, formerly with USTR | moderate/establishment |
| Ted Dean | Dropbox, formerly with Commerce | moderate/establishment |
| Celeste Drake | Directors Guild of America | progressive/critic |
| Michelle DuBois | Values Partnerships, formerly with Commerce | moderate/establishment |
| Julie Greene | AFL-CIO | progressive/critic |
| Elizabeth Kelley | Urban Institute, formerly with National Economic Council and USTR | moderate/establishment |
| Riley Ohlson | Alliance for American Manufacturing | progressive/critic |
| Patrick Schaefer | State of New Mexico | moderate/establishment |
| Daniel Sepulveda | MediaMath, formerly with State Department | moderate/establishment |
| Brad Setser | Council on Foreign Relations, formerly with Treasury | moderate/establishment |
| Todd Tucker | The Roosevelt Institute | progressive/critic |
| Arun Venkataraman | Visa, Inc., formerly with USTR, Commerce, and WTO Appellate Body | moderate/establishment |
| Mark Wu | Harvard Law School, formerly with USTR | moderate/establishment |
| Ryan Zamarripa | Center for American Progress | progressive/critic |
