Bureaus and agencies administer the laws and regulations passed by Congress. They also administer executive orders issued by the President. They were created out of necessity. No one man or woman can effectively oversee the daily control necessary to ensure the laws and rules are carried out. The people that manage these departments are not elected. They have been hired based on experience or favoritism. They have been appointed based on nepotism or party affiliation. In most cases the actual controlling management have been on the job for a long period of time. They are skilled at managing and manipulating the established system as well as maintaining a protective shield against political climate change. They know which way the wind blows.
As a result of the embedded bureaucratic structure, elected officials such as congressmen, governors, mayors, and even presidents are at the mercy of those who run and control these bureaus and agencies. Presidential appointments, especially at the cabinet and department head levels are merely figureheads. They generally have no understanding of system processes or managerial requirements in the department they are appointed to. The departments are so large even someone with strong administrative skills will flounder in their attempt to control. They need to rely on those bureaucrats with well-established experience on the job, to tell them the truth and to push through the decisions made by the President. Congressmen pass laws, but few if any are involved in the administration of the laws and are generally oblivious to many bureaucratic regulations that are enacted to support a law. Good intentions of a law that is passed are many times thwarted by unforeseen regulations that cause more harm than good.
The Civil Service Act of 1883 provided protection for non-elected federal employees. It is nearly impossible to fire a federal employee. Egregious infractions are generally dealt with by reassignment or demotion. Once a bureaucrat is well established then agency politics and occasionally merit are the means used for promotion, influence and pay increases. It is these well-established mid-level and senior management bureaucrats that direct or deflect based on the political climate of the day.
Pexels/Thirdman
Comments are closed.