'Putin’s probably enjoying this White House shuffle': Analyst explains intense danger of Trump's current personnel moves

Before he was president, Donald Trump favored an orderly White House with minimal staff turnover.

In January 2010, the businessman attacked his predecessor, Barack Obama, for his turnover in the Chief of Staff position on Twitter—only to now see himself name a third Chief of Staff inside of 18 months.

Observers mock the dysfunction of Trump's West Wing, but Daily Beast writer Samantha Vinograd sees nothing funny about it. Vinograd was part of the Obama administration where, as she notes, she "worked under four chiefs of staff, two Secretaries of State, two Secretaries of the Treasury, and three Secretaries of Defense during President Obama’s first term."

"Change is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s chaotic under the best of circumstances," she says of those transitions.

The flurry of moves in Trump's White House could actually put Americans in danger, she writes.

"Any public image of disorganization or lack of continuity signals that we’re disorganized and vulnerable—it’s a prime time for opportunists of all shades and colors (including our enemies) to try to take advantage of dropped balls to make headway against us," she writes. "Transitions can be vulnerability goldmines if not handled with care. If there isn’t the necessary process in place, the institutional knowledge on a key terrorist threat or the state of play on covert outreach to a rogue regime official could be gone with the wind, handicapping policy and making each of us less safe."

"That’s exactly why Putin’s probably enjoying this White House shuffle," she writes of the changes, which will likely result in even less qualified and experienced people being hired. "That’s Putin’s gain because it undermines confidence in our institutions—like our mission to the UN and the White House itself—and will make us weaker internally and externally at exactly the same time."

Read the full piece here.