Obama Cabinet Picks May Face Intense Vetting Process

GWEN IFILL:

Now, putting together a new administration from scratch. High-profile names are beginning to trickle out each day as President-elect Obama begins to assemble his cabinet and West Wing.

Each name — Clinton, Daschle, Holder, Axelrod, Emanuel — must meet tough new vetting standards put in place by the Obama transition. So is this the toughest screening process in presidential history?

For more on that, we turn to two people who have followed this and previous transitions closely: Peter Baker, White House correspondent for the New York Times; and Paul Light, professor of public service at New York University and author of the book "Government Ill Executed: The Decline of the Federal Service and How to Reverse It."

Paul Light, how is this shaping up? It seems like a very tough vetting process which has been put in place.

PAUL LIGHT, New York University:

Oh, it's very tough. It's almost like a random shooting.

The questions are deep. The amount of information you have to supply is extraordinary. There are new areas for exploration. Every scandal possible has been anticipated.

You know, they're inspecting almost everything, including your Internet activity, whether you own a gun, whether it's been registered. That last rule on guns may have come from Dick Cheney. Who knows? Kind of worries that you might have shot somebody along the way.

It is an intense process, and it's very discouraging, I think, to some potential appointees.

GWEN IFILL:

Well, Peter Baker, let's just break it down a little bit by little bit. As you look at this extensive questionnaire the Obama people have put together, is this something which is unprecedented? Is it unusually intrusive? For instance, they're asking about spouse's investments and children's activities, as well.

PETER BAKER, The New York Times:

Right. It's probably the most intrusive questionnaire that any political appointees have ever been subjected to. It's the kind of thing where everything you've ever written, every speech you've ever given, you know, anything you've ever done, basically, in your life, right down to the kid you got into a fight with on the kindergarten playground has to be report to the transition team.

And, you know, this is only actually the beginning. If you were to make it through this process and get an appointment from the Obama administration, only then do you go to the FBI for the actual full-field background investigation that they conduct before a Senate confirmation hearing.