Fitzgerald purchased stock in Japan Tobacco, Merck & Co., Bayer, and health insurance company Humana, creating new conflicts of interest, especially in light of CDC’s ongoing work to reduce tobacco consumption—a mission Fitzgerald has claimed to support. Fitzgerald had been appointed by former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, who was similarly forced to resign last September because of his extravagant use of private planes on the taxpayer dime.   read more

Madison started her career as a press assistant to Rep. Porter Goss. In 2006, as deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, she visited Nicaragua six months before presidential elections and urged Nicaraguans to oppose Daniel Ortega and José Rizo, whom she referred to as “two corrupt warlords who represent a return to a dark, selfish and unproductive past.” Despite her efforts, Ortega won the election, albeit with only 38% of the vote in a five-candidate contest.   read more

Thomas, who works as a field representative for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, joined the Kentucky state government in 2004 as special counsel and adviser on the Kentucky Environmental Cabinet. He also served as federal facilities coordinator, ensuring they conformed to the state’s environmental rules. Thomas joined the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority in 2007 as its executive director. He transferred to the private sector in 2009 to work for mechanical contractor Swift and Staley.   read more

A former foreign minister with high level ambassadorial experience, Reyes left the foreign service in 2008 and took a job at the University of Rosario in Bogotá. For two years, he was in charge of the “Light Weapons and Small Arms, Ammunition, and Explosives Observatory,” which focuses on armed violence in Colombia. In 2010, he became executive director of the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce, which represents the economic interests of Colombian and American business.   read more

Prado’s appointment as ambassador is seen by some as an opportunity for President Trump to fill Prado's seat on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals with a more conservative judge. Seated on that bench since 2003, Prado wrote an opinion that dismissed the NRA’s challenge to the law prohibiting gun dealers to sell weapons to people aged 18-20. He also reversed Texas’ law banning inmates from having 4-inch beards outside a cell or religious service.   read more

The director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics is traditionally an expert in statistics. But Anderson’s only background in statistics touted by the White House was his co-creation of a computer rankings system for college football. A prolific writer for right-wing publications and an early endorser of Trump for president, Anderson founded the 2017 Project, which promotes such conservative ideas as lower taxes; anti-immigrant issues; and less regulation, particularly on environment matters.   read more

Rizzuto is senior VP at Conair, where his late father was chairman. Not known to be an expert on the Caribbean, Rizzuto contributed $449,000 to Trump’s campaign. Like his father, who had pleaded guilty to a multimillion-dollar tax evasion scheme, Rizzuto Jr. has also run afoul of the law. At his 100-acre Connecticut compound, Rizzuto filled in wetlands, demolished and renovated old buildings—without permits. He eventually had to pay $35,000 in fines and legal costs and restore the wetlands.   read more

Olsen was deputy director of the Peace Corps from 2002 until the early days of the Obama administration, and served briefly as acting director in 2006 and 2009. She also served as acting country director for Kazakhstan. Olsen has been a visiting professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work in Baltimore since 2010. She also was director of the Center for Global Education Initiatives and spent several summers heading research projects in Malawi, El Salvador, and India.   read more

Cairncross has no background in development aid to poor countries, which is the mission of the organization he was nominated to lead. He was, however, former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus’ assistant, a position whose days were numbered after Priebus was ousted six months into Trump's presidency. Years earlier, as counsel for the Republican National Committee, Cairncross helped push the GOP's “voter fraud” agenda, coming out against voter registration efforts and pushing voter ID laws.   read more

In 2008, Kaboré was named Burkina Faso’s minister of infrastructure and road development under Tertius Zongo, who was then prime minister of the landlocked West African nation. In 2010, Kaboré signed a deal to borrow the equivalent of $12.7 million to finance infrastructure repairs needed after a 2009 flood dropped 300 millimeters of water—about a foot—on the country in 10 hours. Kaboré left the cabinet in 2012 for a stint as community affairs manager for Belahourou Mining Company.   read more

In the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, McAleenan refocused his career onto national security issues. He applied to the FBI but was soon contacted by the recently confirmed commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service (later renamed CBP). In 2001, McAleenan moved to Washington DC and set to work establishing the embryonic Office of Antiterrorism. He was later promoted to be its executive director. McAleenan has been running CBP on an acting basis since day one of Trump's administration.   read more

Gellert has no diplomatic experience, but he does run a company that is involved in real estate ventures with The Kushner Companies, owned by the family of Donald Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. And his own company does business in Chile, including a raisin drying facility and the supply of cranberries and prunes. He is also treasurer of Atalanta, the largest privately held food importer in the U.S., and has an interest in Five Guys burger restaurants and other fast-food operations.   read more

For nine months, Philippine President Duterte had threatened not to name a new ambassador to the U.S. "No ambassador will go there," he insisted. "I do not feel like sending one.” But in July 2017, Duterte sent media executive Romualdez to Washington as the Philippines' ambassador and special envoy. Besides such issues as trade, investment and terrorism, Romualdez will deal with the demand that the U.S. return the Balangiga church bells, which were taken by the U.S. Army in 1901.   read more

Bugaighis began her career in 1988 as a chemical engineer for Arabian Gulf Oil and continued in that position for more than 18 years. She moved into public service in 2007 as deputy chairwoman of Nour Al Maarif Education Co. In 2014, Bugaighis’ cousin, attorney and human rights activist Salwa Bugaighis, was killed in Benghazi after voting in a local election. Islamic militants were thought to be responsible for the assassination.   read more

Uzbekistan has sent a new envoy to Washington. Javlon Vakhabov is a young diplomat who hopes to emphasize his country’s alleged turn towards openness and reform after the death in September 2016 of dictator Islam Karimov, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for 17 years. In 2006, Karimov appointed Vakhabov to the Uzbek National Security Council, serving as leading consultant and as head consultant until 2011, when he was promoted to deputy secretary of the Council.   read more

Throughout 2017, President Trump and GOP leaders in Congress have touted their passing of the most legislation in modern history. But in fact, Trump has signed the fewest bills into law in any president’s first year at least as far back as President Eisenhower. By his own standard, Trump has sunk to last place with 94 bills signed into law by his 336th day in office. He has been in the bottom half for most of his presidency, and without a major turn-around, he will remain at or near the bottom.   read more