oldfart
Older than dirt
While folks on the left and the right might use different examples, I think there might be an agreement that too many government agencies that businesses and the public have to deal with have developed their own inbred cultures which are often extremely dysfunctional. The one I deal with at work is the IRS. Suffice it to say I have plenty of stories that would curl anyone's toes.
Part of the problem is abuses and illegal activities, but more pernicious is the fact that many agencies have developed an ethos about what they do that is injurious to their mission, the general public, and the majority of the people they deal with for the benefit of the organization itself and for a few "stakeholders" who are too cozy for the public interest.
Here's a short list of what I consider the prime examples.
1. Internal Revenue Service--for a persistent adversarial "protect the revenue" attitude, poor taxpayer service, and an inbred self-protective culture.
2. Law enforcement agencies in general--for becoming increasingly militarized, self-protective, attitude that everyone is guilty, and prone to "rogue" operations clearly outside the law.
3. Criminal justice system--with 98% of cases disposed throgh pleas bargains, where is there any justice?
4. Commercial legal system--victory goes to the deepest legal pockets
5. Industry regulation--can we spell "capture"?
6. Intelligence community--Bigger than the rest of the government combined? Really?
7. Military contracting system--what makes cost plus obscene
8. Military justice--has to be seen to be believed
Just to add some perspective, these agencies each perform some functions well and other agencies seem to overall operate with less of these crippling disabilities (the Foreign Service, Agricultural Extension Service, Inspector-general system in most Departments, National Taxpayer Advocate, Congressional Budget Office, most statistical services like BLS, FRED, BEA, Census, CEA, and so forth).
In each agency the problem seems to have a common refrain: an internal culture to develop its own standards of behavior and protect its own. So here is my modest proposal to make the things incrementally better.
At a lower middle management level, technical expertise is important, but at managerial levels management skills which should be generic across agencies becomes more important. Why not have a management development program across civil service as opposed to one for each agency? Limit the time in any agency to ten years. Cross promote so that the next Assistant Commissioner comes from the Dept of Labor or the FAA. The people in the IRS will not be disadvantaged, their next promotion could be the SEC or Bureau of the Census. Good ideas would spread and insular attitudes would break down.
Expand, fully fund, and make the inspector general system more accountable to Congress.
Forbid government employees above a certain pay level (middle management with some policy-making responsibilities) involved in certain regulatory functions from accepting employment in the industries for a period of at least ten years.
What say you?
Part of the problem is abuses and illegal activities, but more pernicious is the fact that many agencies have developed an ethos about what they do that is injurious to their mission, the general public, and the majority of the people they deal with for the benefit of the organization itself and for a few "stakeholders" who are too cozy for the public interest.
Here's a short list of what I consider the prime examples.
1. Internal Revenue Service--for a persistent adversarial "protect the revenue" attitude, poor taxpayer service, and an inbred self-protective culture.
2. Law enforcement agencies in general--for becoming increasingly militarized, self-protective, attitude that everyone is guilty, and prone to "rogue" operations clearly outside the law.
3. Criminal justice system--with 98% of cases disposed throgh pleas bargains, where is there any justice?
4. Commercial legal system--victory goes to the deepest legal pockets
5. Industry regulation--can we spell "capture"?
6. Intelligence community--Bigger than the rest of the government combined? Really?
7. Military contracting system--what makes cost plus obscene
8. Military justice--has to be seen to be believed
Just to add some perspective, these agencies each perform some functions well and other agencies seem to overall operate with less of these crippling disabilities (the Foreign Service, Agricultural Extension Service, Inspector-general system in most Departments, National Taxpayer Advocate, Congressional Budget Office, most statistical services like BLS, FRED, BEA, Census, CEA, and so forth).
In each agency the problem seems to have a common refrain: an internal culture to develop its own standards of behavior and protect its own. So here is my modest proposal to make the things incrementally better.
At a lower middle management level, technical expertise is important, but at managerial levels management skills which should be generic across agencies becomes more important. Why not have a management development program across civil service as opposed to one for each agency? Limit the time in any agency to ten years. Cross promote so that the next Assistant Commissioner comes from the Dept of Labor or the FAA. The people in the IRS will not be disadvantaged, their next promotion could be the SEC or Bureau of the Census. Good ideas would spread and insular attitudes would break down.
Expand, fully fund, and make the inspector general system more accountable to Congress.
Forbid government employees above a certain pay level (middle management with some policy-making responsibilities) involved in certain regulatory functions from accepting employment in the industries for a period of at least ten years.
What say you?