donald trump <u+2019>s transition seems to be emerging from its early turmoil, and on friday he filled three important jobs with campaign loyalists. more encouraging is that he appears to be looking for figures of stature outside his inner circle. the president-elect has a penchant for rewarding political loyalty, and that has paid off for jeff sessions as mr. trump<u+2019>s choice for attorney general. the alabama republican was the first sitting senator to endorse mr. trump, and he and aide stephen miller refined the candidate<u+2019>s populist message and defended him through the squalls. if there<u+2019>s any doubt that mr. trump will follow through on his immigration promises, the choice of mr. sessions puts that to rest. he opposes illegal and most legal immigration, including h-1b visas for high-skilled professionals. he<u+2019>ll oversee the civil-rights division and immigration courts, and let<u+2019>s hope mr. sessions<u+2019>s governance will be more tolerant than his anti-immigrant rhetoric. then again, mr. sessions is an accomplished lawyer who has served as a u.s. attorney and state ag. his opposition to president obama <u+2019>s executive immigration orders were grounded in his separation-of-powers constitutionalism more than mere politics. he has also joined with democrats in pursuing criminal-justice reform. progressives are nonetheless already smearing mr. sessions as a racist, but that<u+2019>s what they say about every southern republican. in 1986 a joe biden-ted kennedy special derailed the young lawyer from mobile for a federal judgeship with innuendo and hearsay. modern liberals may be surprised to learn that mr. sessions helped to desegregate alabama public schools as u.s. attorney, and he won a death-penalty conviction for the head of the state kkk in a capital murder trial. the 1981 case broke the klan in the heart of dixie. mr. trump also turned to a campaign ally for national security adviser in former lt. gen. michael flynn, who retired army gen. barry mccaffrey calls <u+201c>the best intelligence officer of his generation.<u+201d> mr. flynn earned a reputation as an adept if combative officer over his 33-year military career. in 2012 president obama named him to run the defense intelligence agency, the pentagon<u+2019>s spy service, but he forced him out in 2014 amid feuding with his superiors over islamist terror and russia. mr. flynn has sometimes been given to rash statements since he emerged in the trump orbit. his moscow speaking gig in 2015<u+2014>on behalf of its state-sponsored propaganda network rt, where he was seated next to vladimir putin <u+2014>was a major lapse of judgment. mr. flynn may have mr. trump<u+2019>s trust, which is important, but his accommodating instincts toward the kremlin are a concern. one question is whether mr. flynn has a strategic vision of his own about america<u+2019>s role in the world. the tension is that as the gatekeeper of information and options, he has to make sure the president sees all the arguments and a full set of options. can he fairly marshall the arguments from all comers? mr. trump<u+2019>s most impressive appointment so far is mike pompeo to run the central intelligence agency. an army vet and harvard law grad, the kansas congressman will bring an analytical and operational talent to the premier u.s. counterterrorism outfit. he supported mr. trump after marco rubio dropped out but has been an independent voice on the house intelligence committee. mr. pompeo led the opposition to the post-snowden panic over u.s. surveillance capabilities and he<u+2019>s a fierce opponent of the iran nuclear deal. perhaps mr. trump<u+2019>s biggest surprise so far is his invitation to meet this weekend with mitt romney, arguably his most prominent republican detractor during the campaign. mr. flynn suggested that the 2012 gop nominee is being considered for secretary of state. that claim may be for public show, but it<u+2019>s encouraging even if the two men don<u+2019>t mesh in private. the outreach to a former antagonist shows a willingness to expand his governing coalition and unify the gop. mr. romney<u+2019>s selection would reassure america<u+2019>s nervous allies and could balance mr. flynn as a russia skeptic. it<u+2019>s also encouraging that mr. trump has met with former gen. jack keane and will meet on the weekend with former gen. james mattis. book time with former gen. david petraeus too. mr. trump has to run a government, not a campaign rewards program, and on foreign policy in particular he needs seasoned hands. with so little personal experience on national security, he<u+2019>ll want to hear more than one point of view. and as a political insurgent, he needs to build alliances with the gop factions he vanquished. ronald reagan understood this when he made james baker, who ran george h.w. bush <u+2019>s rival campaign, his white house chief of staff. president obama did the same by naming rival hillary clinton as secretary of state and keeping bob gates at the pentagon. america<u+2019>s challenges are formidable enough without the group-think and closed policy loops that can set in at the white house. mr. trump will profit if he makes his cabinet a diversified intellectual portfolio.
the emerging trump cabinet - wsj
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