I estimate that the amount of time that I check my iPhone for news updates has tripled since January, up from the presidential race in 2024 that had already increased the time I spend online. My attention span has been compromised for what I would call my regular work – trying to write a new book and, at the same time, update my first book. Moving to BlueSky.com, a new social media platform – @riskdetective.bsky.social – and letting go of a 15-year-old Twitter/X account has also been disruptive. In fact, I spend a fair amount of time each day devoted to reading and writing about the president’s vengeful behavior and the unceasing executive orders he issues. I keep thinking I’ll be able to manage the firehose of news coming at us better, and make increasing use of the blog, but so far connections are made and kept on social media. My ability to concentrate has been seriously affected.
Like many of you, I find that it is increasingly difficult to think positively about our country and its place in the world. I have spent the last twenty-five or so years of my career advocating for public-private sector partnerships, which are at the heart of my work in risk management, just as they are absolutely vital for the stature and effectiveness of the U.S. government. To see the president and vice president of the United States bully the president of Ukraine in front of the press (evidently to make “good television,” as Trump proclaimed) in late February marked an all-time low for me, compounded by presidential behavior that is unsupportable on related matters, like the cancellation of the minerals document signing, and a pause in delivery of military aid to Ukraine after that scene in the Oval Office. The fact that ALL actions are now television events, with mainly ‘friendly’ members of the press, has allowed Trump unprecedented access to ensure he dominates the news most days, without any factual constraints and very few critical questions.
Trump has deployed Elon Musk to poke around government agencies to “reduce fraud and waste” which has resulted in the reduction in force of thousands of government employees across the board, but which actually represents only a small amount of savings to the massive federal budget. Thousands are now looking for new jobs, with critical tasks they had performed for the federal government now compromised. Cuts to the State Department's USAID program, to the Education Department, to Health & Human Services, and to the Department of Veterans Affairs are at the forefront, with cuts to critical agencies like the National Institute of Health, Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and serious assaults on universities.
Take one example: Veterans Affairs was a mess for years, with antiquated technology, and poor customer service. A great deal of work was done to improve conditions and service, including increasing staffing levels over the past 10 years. The president plans to cut the Veterans Administration workforce by 80,000 people. Note that many positions at the VA are held by veterans who will be put out of work.
Of course, truly significant budget cuts would come from Social Security (called a Ponzi scheme by Elon Musk), Medicare, and Medicaid with almost no acknowledgment of serious errors in DOGE reporting. Note that these are not entitlement programs – each of us had funds withdrawn from our paychecks during our careers to support these programs, based on a formula. Contrary to the State of the Union extended remarks that Trump made, when a recipient dies, the funeral home director is required to file a form with the government, and the government takes back any funds distributed after the death of the recipient. It is in the area of these three programs that we must summon up our ability to call and write letters and to demonstrate our firm belief in these obligations that the government has.
I taught a graduate course for 11 years at the university, titled “Ethics, Policy and Law in Information Use.” Because the course always had some international students (and because many Americans never really had a civics course), I introduced everyone to the foundations of American government, with a focus on the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. We spent the most time on the Constitution because it is the blueprint for the governance of citizens of the United States.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
It is from the Constitution that the three branches of government were created and defined: Executive Branch – Article 2 defines the president’s powers; Judicial Branch - Article 3 defines the role of the Supreme Court; and Legislative Branch – Article 1 vests powers in Congress.
There are two important principles that the Constitution operates on. The first is the “separation of powers,” since each branch is supposed to operate independently.
The other principle is “checks and balances” on the three branches to prevent the concentration of power in any one branch and to ensure the rights of citizens. Here’s how they work:
President can veto Congress’ bills
President nominates judiciary
The Supreme Court can declare a law unconstitutional
Congress can impeach the president and judges
The current administration is overrunning both of these principles. We are fortunate to have a working free press, now under serious threats, to examine just how the operation of ‘checks and balances’ has been severely weakened by provisions drawn evidently from Project 2025 text, by disabling the legal apparatus that is a matter of settled law, with legislative grounds. The net effect of these issues is that Congress has been, effectively, neutralized by the manifest fear of Trump-directed primary challenges. The dismantling of the actual agencies of government is primarily damaging to citizens and the standing of the USA as a reputable leader of the Free World. The courts, so far, have not yet yielded to the Trump administration, either on Executive Branch immunity, or the primary constraint, essential to the effectiveness of constitutional government: the fundamental provision that the Legislative Branch has the sole power of funding the government.
While the State of the Union has been shaken, the center still holds at this time, with three working branches of government, and a resemblance at times to to the familiar system of checks and balances that we cherish.
Originally Published in ASA News and Notes on March 10, 2025
Annie Searle
Searle is an Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington. She is founder and principal of ASA Risk Consultants, a Seattle-based advisory firm. She spent 10 years at Washington Mutual Bank, most of them as a senior executive. Annie is a member of the CISA 10 Regional Infrastructure Security Group. She was an inaugural inductee in 2011 into the Hall of Fame for the International Network of Women in Homeland Security and Emergency Management. She writes a column monthly for ASA News & Notes and is the author of several books or book chapters. She is also a member of the emeritus board of directors for the Seattle Public Library Foundation.