What is “vetting”? How does it work? Why is it so important to the quality of public service and government? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto
interviews Alyssa Mastromonaco in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.
With many years of experience working in the United States’ government, Mastromonaco served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for operations in the
administration of President Barack Obama from 2011 to 2014, the youngest woman to hold that position. Prior to that, she was Director of Scheduling and Advance, a position she also held during President Obama’s first campaign. Mastromonaco began working with then Senator Obama in January 2005
where she served as an advisor and political director of his PAC, Hopefund. She had previously worked for Senator John Kerry in both the Senate and his 2004 campaign and also served as Congressman Rick Boucher’s (VA-09) press secretary. After leaving the White House, she was President of Global Communications Strategy & Talent at A&E Networks and the chief operating officer of Vice Media. She has also been a contributing editor at Marie Claire magazine. Since 2017, Mastromonaco has been a podcaster with Crooked Media.
In this episode, Mastromonaco describes what the vetting process consists of, specifically in the United States. She discusses the purpose of the vetting process, as well as it standards. Mastromonaco also looks at how political polarization and the modern media environment have weakened the public strength of the vetting process. She also addresses the challenges of conducting an efficient vetting investigation. Mastromonaco examines the lack of vetting in countries like Portugal and how a thorough vetting process can lead to finding the best people for any given public position. Finally, she explains how lying about one’s past may be more disqualifying for the person being vetted than telling the truth about the person is being asked about, in a conversation well worth listening to.
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