Progress, Setbacks Among Bush's Workforce Reforms

But federal courts have ruled, in response to lawsuits filed by federal unions, that the administration overreached when it tried to use the new laws to sharply restrict union rights at the Homeland Security and Defense departments. The court rulings have slowed the rollout of the new personnel systems.

"As far as personnel systems changing . . . the jury is still out on whether that is going to end up being successful," Collins said.

"Theoretically, it should allow us to recruit and retain better employees and reward them better, but it has been such a work in progress. It is difficult to assess at this point," she said.

Going forward, Collins said, the Department of Homeland Security should "draw more on the expertise of the career workforce." She added: "I think the department has a number of extraordinarily talented individuals, particularly in the Coast Guard."

From his vantage point near the White House, Johnson said he would like to see all agencies do a better job of working across their bureaucratic boundaries when addressing terrorist threats and natural disasters.

"We have to absolutely demand that we be more capable than we have been in doing things on a government-wide basis," he said.

Talk Shows

Marta Brito Perez , recently appointed the chief human capital officer at the Department of Homeland Security, will be the guest on "FEDtalk" at 11 a.m. today on http://federalnewsradio.com and WFED radio (1050 AM).

Capt. James J. Shannon , program manager for future combat systems open architecture for the Navy, will be the guest on "The IBM Business of Government Hour" at 9 a.m. Saturday on WJFK radio (106.7 FM).

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.