The Executive Branch

The Bureaucracy Problem

• All organizations have– Standard operating procedures– Culture (values)– Interests (seek autonomy, resources, prestige)

The Bureaucracy Problem

• Because of standard procedures, values and interests, problems arise:– Resistance to change– Isolation– Fragmentation– Lack of co-ordination

Resistance to Change Culture:

“The Concern about the FBI is that it has long favored its criminal justice mission over its national security mission”

- 9/11 Commission Report, page 423

Vested interests leads to Isolation: “Responsibility for domestic intelligence gathering on

terrorism was vested solely in the FBI, yet during almost all of the Clinton Administration the relationship between the FBI Director and the President was nearly nonexistent. The FBI Director would not communicate directly with the President. His key personnel shared very little information with the National Security Council and the rest of the national security community. As a consequence, one of the critical working relationships in the counterterrorism effort was broken.”

- 9/11 Commission Report, page 358

Fragmentation: Members of the U.S. Intelligence Community

• Office of the Director of Central Intelligence

• The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

• National intelligence agencies:– National Security Agency (NSA)

– National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)

– National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)

• Departmental intelligence agencies:– Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) – Defense Dept.

– Intelligence entities of the armed forces

– Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) – State Dept.

– Office of Terrorism and Finance Intelligence – Treasury Dept.

– Office of Intelligence and the Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence – FBI, Justice Dept.

– Office of Intelligence – Energy Dept.

– Directorate of Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) – Homeland Security

– Directorate of Coast Guard Intelligence – Homeland Security

Lack of Co-ordination: Proposed Reforms

• Structural barriers to performing joint intelligence work

• Lack of common standards and practices across the foreign-domestic divide

• Divided management of national intelligence capabilities

• Weak capacity to set priorities and move resources• Too many jobs• Too complex and secret

- 9/11 Commission Report, pages 407-410

Historical Evolution of U S. Bureaucracies

1. Dubious ancestry

2. Built on spoils system

3. Civil service reform bottom-up, not top down

Dubious Ancestry

“The climate was intolerable. The place was a menace to

health, pervaded with contaminated vapour, which

brought on all manner of agues and other complaints

. . . . The cuisine was atrocious--hog and hominy grits

and not even any fruit fit for hogs to eat. The residential

accommodations were narrow, . . . uncomfortable and

expensive.”

James Young, The Washington Community

Built on spoils system

Black Representation in State and Local Government Compare to Private Sector

0

5

10

15

20

25

Pe

rce

nta

ge

of

Bla

ck

s

Government Private Sector

Administrators and Professional Staff

Clerical andTechnical Workers

Skilled Crafts Service Workers

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Pe

rce

nta

ge

of

His

pa

nic

s

Government Private Sector

Administrators and Professional Staff

Clerical andTechnical Workers Skilled Crafts Service Workers

Hispanic Representation in State and Local Government Compare to Private Sector

Bottom-up reforms erode spoils system

Pendleton Act

“blanketed in”

Hatch Act

20

Number of Public Sector Employees 1983-2004

21

Union Membership by Sector, 1972-2004

Homeland Security Act

Patronage Today

High Level Patronage Appointments in the Average Government Department

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Nu

mb

er

1960 1992

“inners and outers”

Congressional politics and bureaucracy

Senatorial Courtesy

Average Time It Takes Presidential Appointees to Be Confirmed

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Mo

nth

s

Kennedy1961

Nixon1969

Carter1977

Reagan1981

Bush1989

Clinton1993

Bush2001

“The new [Bush] administration – like othersbefore it – did not have its team on the jobuntil at least six months after it took office.”

- 9/11 Commission Report, page 422

“Recommendation: Since a catastrophic attack couldoccur with little or no notice, we should minimize asmuch as possible the disruption of national securitypolicymaking during the change of administrationsby accelerating the process for national securityAppointments”

- 9/11 Commission Report, page 422

Budgetary control

• Decide funding for each agency, and programs within agencies.

• “Earmark”—the way to get pork for your district

THE IRON TRIANGLE

BureaucraticAgency

Benef

its

Appropriations/A

uthority

Interest Groups

Pressure/Votes Congressional Subcommittee

Establishment Year of Each Cabinet Department and Group Allies

Department Year Group Allies

Inner CabinetState 1789Treasury 1789Justice (Attorney General) 1789War (Defense) 1789

Outer CabinetInterior 1849 Timber, miners, ranchersAgriculture 1889 Farm Bureau and other farm groupsCommerce 1913 Chamber of CommerceLabor 1913 AFL-CIOHealth and Human Services 1953 American Association of Retired PersonsHousing and Urban Development 1965 League of CitiesTransportation 1966 Auto manufacturers, truckers, airlinesEnergy 1967 Gas, Oil, nuclear interestsEducation 1979 Teacher unionsVeterans Affairs 1987 American Legion, VFWEnvironmental Protection Agency 1990 Sierra Club and other environmental

groupsHomeland Security 2002

Independent Agencies and their Group Allies

Board Length Independent Agency Size of Term Group AlliesNational Credit Union Administration 3 6 Credit UnionsFederal Reserve Board 7 14 BanksSecurity and Exchange Commission 5 5 investment banks, etcConsumer Product Safety 5 5 Consumers UnionEqual Employment Opportunity 5 5 Civil rights groupsFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation 3 6 BanksFederal Energy Regulatory Commission 4 4 Oil/gas interestsFederal Maritime Commission 5 5 FisheriesFederal Trade Commission 5 7 Business groupsNational Labor Relations Board 5 5 UnionsSecurities and Exchange Commission 5 5 Wall StreetTennessee Valley Authority 3 9 Regional Farmers

and utilities

Iron Triangle that Existed in the 1950s

Joint Committee on Atomic Energy

(Congress)

“Big Four of the Nuclear Power Industry”

(General Electric, Westinghouse, Combustion Engineering, Babcock and Wilcox)

Atomic Energy Commission

(independent agency in the executive branch)

ConsumerGroups

(National Taxpayers Union, PIRG)

Environmental Groups

(Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth)

Scientific Groups (Union of Concerned Scientists, American

Physical Society)

Senate Environmental &

Public Works Committee

House Interior and Insular Affairs

Committee

Environmental Protection

Agency

Department of the Interior

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Department of Energy

Construction Companies (Bechtel, Raytheon, Stone &

Webster)

The “Big Four” Manufacturers

Scientific Groups (Union of Concerned Scientists, American

Physical Society)

House Energy & Commerce Committee

Senate Energy & Natural Resources

Committee

American Nuclear Energy

Council

State Governments

Courts

News Media Think Tanks and Universities

Issue Network that exists today (1970s – 1990s)