The Fifth Risk is about the inadequacy of Trump but is presented in a refreshingly apolitical way. It follows the careers of three scientists who, at the time of Trump's inauguration, were near the top of their respective agencies in government. These are three rational and very competent individuals, who had achieved significant success in industry/academia before deciding to work "for the greater good" in the government and handled extremely complex projects during previous administrations.

When one president hands over to the next, all of the agencies prepare a huge set of handover-takeover resources so that the next government can pick up where the previous left off. The government agencies diligently did so, but to their surprise, in many cases, the Trump administration didn't send anyone to receive the resources. When people were sent, they were hopelessly incompetent bureaucrats chosen for no other reason than loyalty to Trump. From Lewis' telling of it, it's quite a surprise that there haven't been any catastrophic government accidents since 2016.

On a side note, it was quite interesting to read about the complexity of the US government and the number of departments they have. Boring names, such as the Department of Agriculture, have their fingers in surprisingly many pots.

The Fifth Risk is a short read, and definitely worth the time. I would have appreciated a little bit more of a thesis to tie together the three strands, but even without them, Lewis' many small references to Trump's handling of the executive handover paint quite a worrying picture. The next president is going to have quite a rough time cleaning up the mess.

Perry is of course responsible for one of the DOE’s most famous moments—when in a 2011 presidential debate he said he intended to eliminate three entire departments of the federal government. Asked to list them he named Commerce, Education, and . . . then hit a wall. “The third agency of government I would do away with . . . Education . . . the . . . ahhhh . . . ahhh . . . Commerce, and let’s see.” As his eyes bored a hole in his lectern, his mind drew a blank. “I can’t, the third one. I can’t. Sorry. Oops.” (loc 327)

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when I had asked him for the fifth risk, he had thought about it and then seemed to relax a bit. The fifth risk did not put him at risk of revealing classified information. “Project management,” was all he said. (loc 577)

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If your ambition is to maximize short-term gain without regard to the long-term cost, you are better off not knowing the cost. (loc 671)

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It was an open question as to which was more mysterious to a male NASA engineer: outer space or the American female. (loc 1341)

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