Twelve or so down, 650 or so nominations to go. (Yes, the U.S. government is ginormous.)

But when it comes to his inner circle, President-elect Donald Trump is actually moving through his picks at a speedy pace. On Wednesday alone, his team announced his choices for three top administration positions. Here's the latest:

1. The pick: Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly to run the Department of Homeland Security

Lt. Gen. John F. Kelly in 2011. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

What campaign promise he'd help Trump fulfill: Building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and, if Trump's up for it, deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. DHS was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to help coordinate the war on terror, but it also handles immigration.

In his own words: Like many of the retired generals Trump is putting in his Cabinet, Kelly is a hard-liner when it comes to terrorism, immigration and the war on drugs. In other words, he won't tolerate any of it.

"Given the opportunity to do another 9/11, our vicious enemy would do it today, tomorrow and everyday thereafter," he's said.

2. The pick: Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) to be ambassador to China

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) in Trump Tower. (Albin Lohr-Jones/EPA)

What campaign promise he'd help Trump fulfill: I'll have to get back to you on that. Trump has given every indication he wants to stick it to China (chatting up Taiwan's leader, tweeting about Chinese currency manipulation), so Branstad is not the pick we'd expect.

The longtime Iowa governor is actually a buddy of Chinese President Xi Jinping; the two go back to 1985 when Xi, then a president-in-training, visited Iowa during Branstad's first term as governor. The two hit it off and now call each other "close friends." Maybe Trump wants to play nice with China after all.

In his own words: Actually, let's hear what China had to say about all this. After characterizing Trump's Taiwan phone call as "petty," China spokesman Lu Kang had nothing but praise for Branstad: "I would like to say that Mr. Branstad is an old friend of the Chinese people and we welcome him to play a greater role in promoting Sino-U.S. relations."

3. The pick: Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt at Trump Tower on Wednesday. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

What campaign promise he'll help Trump fulfill: To basically gut the agency. Pruitt is literally suing the agency he'd be in charge of, claiming its environmental regulations to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are an unnecessary burden on U.S. businesses.

In his own words: Trump has said he thinks climate change is a "hoax;" Pruitt isn't that far behind him.