NYT editorial board warns about understaffed Trump administration

The New York Times editorial board is sounding the alarm about the Trump administration's staffing problems.

In a March 3 op-ed, the board begins by writing that "President Trump has appointed fewer than three dozen of the top 1,000 officials he needs to run the federal government."

It then adds, "The president seems to have lost interest in the nomination process after making his cabinet and Supreme Court picks, people involved in the transition say."

The piece points out that previous administrations have also started slowly, but the difference is that they had "scores of candidates in the pipeline by this time. Mr. Trump does not."

When Fox News asked Trump about 600 open positions he has yet fill, he said, "Well, a lot of those jobs, I don't want to appoint because they're unnecessary to have."

Trump then said, "Many of those jobs I don't want to fill...we're running a very good, efficient government."

However, experts have also previously pointed out that vacancies can lead to slow responses, especially in a national security situation.

The Times op-ed goes on to say that "the federal agencies are effectively run by Trump 'beachhead' teams, some 600 people who mostly are campaign donors, Trump employees, pals or allied politicos. Many know little about the agencies they inhabit, and they are understandably resented by career staff members."

The White House has reportedly slowed the hiring process further by challenging some of the preferred staffing choices of cabinet heads like Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

RELATED: The New York Times -- 'The Truth is Hard' ad