Four Years After 9/11, Higher Pressure, Rewards

The sense that their jobs are more important also has made some employees more willing to expose mismanagement and corruption, said Danielle Brian , executive director at the Project on Government Oversight.

She sees more federal employees willing to raise their concerns in public, even though whistle-blower laws do not cover Transportation Security Administration screeners, FBI agents and employees in intelligence agencies.

"People are coming forward," she said. "When they see real holes in homeland security, they feel compelled to come forward."

The focus on homeland security also created a rationale for creating more rigorous systems to measure the performance of federal employees and link job ratings to pay raises. As part of the workplace changes, the Bush administration also has moved to curb the clout of unions in government.

"It seems there is a tremendous uncertainty about what the future structure of the civil service will be, and that uncertainty leads to a certain anxiety," Bransford said.

Even though the administration's plans to overhaul pay practices at the departments of Defense and Homeland Security are moving slowly, Kelley said the proposals "have generated a lot of resistance."

If anything, 9/11 seems to have put a stop to talk about cutting federal jobs or bringing an end to "big government."

Data on full-time executive branch employment show that the civil service grew by 5.2 percent between fiscal 2000 and 2004, mostly because of hiring for homeland security.

E-mail:barrs@washpost.com