Understanding Government

If there is one truth about bureaucratic culture that I am most desperate to get across, it concerns the survival imperative. Especially as government organizations mature, dedication to the performance of mission tends to be replaced by dedication to the survival of the official and of his agency. This means that protection of the agency’s budget becomes paramount. Otherwise the jobs of its officials are threatened. Next most important is growth of the budget, because it will increase opportunities for promotion.

The best way to avoid budget cuts is not to anger the groups that can make trouble for the agency with the congressional appropriations committee. (more…)

Even when there is an adequate number of inspectors at a government agency, they are conditioned not to make trouble for the inspected. When the Department of Agriculture inspected Wright County Egg in Iowa, later found to be a major source of salmonella, they discovered, according to the Wall Street Journal, “[d]rain clogged, full of shells,” “bugs everywhere,” “cooler floor was dirty, lots of trash,” and “the dry storage area had lots of trash, cartons on the floor everywhere.” These reports came from inspections that occurred from April 1 through August 17 of this year. But the DOA failed to tell the FDA, which is responsible for egg safety, about these problems. The salmonella outbreak occurred a few weeks later. Why didn’t the DOA say anything? “The conditions at the egg plant packing facility were routine.” In other words, the plant has always been a mess, so why speak up now?

Reprinted from The Washington Monthly by permission

A caution about BP: it is essential that we not forget, that we hold their feet to the fire on the cleanup, and that we do not let up until those responsible for the disaster are brought to justice. Consider what Union Carbide and the company that later acquired it, Dow Chemical, got away with after the 1984 chemical leak in Bhopal, India, which killed over 3,000 people immediately, and several thousand later. (more…)

Reprinted by permission from The Washington Monthly:

Even liberals are now waking up to the danger of the United States becoming another Greece—a country where the public sector is consuming far too much of the nation’s economy. What worries me is that the awakening will encourage blind anti-governmentism that cuts all programs without regard to their merit. Some can be cut, but many functions of government are crucial, demanding improvement, not elimination. (more…)

(reprinted with permission of The Washington Monthly)

A few issues ago I noted the tendency of White Houses to devote little or no attention to the vast bureaucracy underneath, crossing their fingers and hoping any disaster down below can be avoided on their watch. The fiasco with the Mineral Management Services is the latest example of the danger of inattention at the top. (more…)