Treasury Department Chaos Leads to Exodus of Key Staffers

Treasury Department Chaos Leads to Exodus of Key Staffers
Eight current and former employees in Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence say Team Trump’s manic, mercurial approach has staffers headed for the exits.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/treasury-department-chaos-leads-to-exodus-of-key-staffers

Micromanagement, internal bickering, and middle-of-the-night conference calls are just a few of the complaints coming from inside the halls of the Treasury Department, where staffers say working conditions have prompted an exodus from the department in the last eight months.

Tensions are running particularly high in the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, which combats terrorist financing domestically and internationally. The Daily Beast interviewed eight current and former staffers there, all of whom said department leaders often overlook their professional assessments on key policy-related topics, including sanctions designations. They also said President Trump’s constantly shifting policy focus creates a chaotic and confusing environment.

“It’s like we are hamsters on a wheel,” one staffer said.
Sources who spoke to The Daily Beast said the changing whims of the White House, which come down through the leaders of Treasury, force them to work 20-hour days with no clear indication if what they work on one day will last into the next. And that is what is pushing several out the door.

“Everything felt super-reactionary,” one former staffer said. “One day you’re told to focus on one thing, and then the next day there’s some other news and you’re suddenly on to something else. The direction comes from the top. And if the president decides he’s going to go a different way on Iran or Russia or some other country, then we had to move the goalpost.”

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