Progress, Setbacks Among Bush's Workforce Reforms

By Stephen Barr
Friday, September 8, 2006

Bold changes in the government's organization and ambitious plans to reshape personnel management continue to swirl around the federal workforce five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

President Bush pointed to the structural changes yesterday in what he called a progress report on the struggle against terrorism. His list included creation of the Transportation Security Administration, which added about 54,000 jobs to the federal payroll; the merger of 22 agencies and 180,000 employees into a new Department of Homeland Security; and the decision to pull together the 16 agencies of the intelligence community with 100,000 employees under a new position, director of national intelligence.

"We're changing how people can work together. We're modernizing the system," Bush said in an Atlanta speech. "We're working to connect the dots."

Bush, of course, did not mention the turf wars and other tensions that have accompanied the reorganizations. He did not mention hard feelings between the administration and unions (although he expressed appreciation for federal agents, analysts and others who work to deter terrorist threats). He did not address critics who question whether the administration's changes may have created more problems than solutions.

Like many administration officials, Bush's longtime friend and chief adviser on federal management issues, Clay Johnson III of the Office of Management and Budget, believes there was little choice after Sept. 11 but to launch major reorganizations.

"The organizational changes were absolutely necessary, because the problems we face now and the opportunities we face now are unlike anything we have had before," he said.

Creating the Department of Homeland Security "was an absolute necessity," Johnson said. "Everyone knew it was going to add management challenges . . . and take several years to be a fully functioning and well-coordinated entity, but we had no choice."

Sen. Susan M. Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said she thinks, on balance, that the Homeland Security merger, far larger than most private-sector consolidations, was the right approach.

"There has been too much turnover at the top levels of the Department of Homeland Security, and that has held the department back," Collins said. But, she added, "we are seeing progress."

Collins said the post-Hurricane Katrina team running the Federal Emergency Management Agency "is far stronger than it has been in some years, and I think the two Michaels at the top of the department" -- Secretary Michael Chertoff and Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson -- "have learned to work effectively together."

The promise of managerial changes that the Bush administration claimed would create a more agile federal workforce seem far off, however.

In 2002, Bush signed legislation authorizing a new approach to paying, promoting and disciplining employees at Homeland Security. In 2003, he signed similar legislation to overhaul pay and personnel rules for about 700,000 Defense Department civil service employees.

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.