Since the election, transition team officials have referenced the need to rebuild as well. In an email sent this week to Democratic chiefs of staff on Capitol Hill, transition aide Louisa Terrell noted that Biden “will inherit a hollowed out federal workforce” and as a result will need to “identify an unprecedented number of highly-qualified public servants ready to begin their service in the early days of the administration.” The memo asked members of Congress to send them suggestions of who out of “America’s best talent” they should nominate to key agency posts.

One person who has been in touch with the transition said the Biden team is working to get potentially thousands more people than usual ready to head into government jobs by Inauguration Day.

“There’s an understanding that they just have to get in quickly and put people in these seats and support the workforce and start rebuilding right away,” this person said. “It’s going to be frenetic.”

Some agencies have shown greater signs of strain than others — reflecting, in many cases, the level of rancor between the Trump administration […]