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DHS to face "transition problem" after next election
Seems that DHS has more political appointees than the VA and DOD put together. The highest number in government...
According to figures compiled in the quadrennial Plum Book by the Office of Personnel Management, as of September 2004 the 180,000-employee Homeland Security Department had more than 360 politically appointed, noncareer positions. By contrast, the Veterans Affairs Department -- the government's second-largest department, at 235,000 employees -- had only 64. And the Defense Department -- far and away the largest department in the government, at 2.1 million employees, including military and civilian -- counted 283 appointed, noncareer billets. That figure includes political appointees at the Army, Navy, and Air Force. DHS's own reports show that since 2004, it has often added more political positions to its ranks, and more frequently, than other large departments. http://govexec.com/dailyfed/0607/060107nj1.htm Best thing that can happen, IMHO, is a top-to-bottom overhaul. |
Originally Posted by Global_Hi_Flyer
(Post 7851785)
Best thing that can happen, IMHO, is a top-to-bottom overhaul. Seriously, who'd miss this disgrace of an agency? :confused: |
Originally Posted by Spiff
(Post 7852002)
Seriously, who'd miss this disgrace of an agency? :confused:
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180,000 employees.
Disgusting. They hate our freedoms (but love their paychecks), imho. |
Originally Posted by Global_Hi_Flyer
(Post 7851785)
Best thing that can happen, IMHO, is a top-to-bottom overhaul.
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Hopefully the only "transition" DHS will be making is from "existent" to "nonexistent".:D
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Originally Posted by DL4EVR
(Post 7852423)
Hopefully the only "transition" DHS will be making is from "existent" to "nonexistent".:D
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We all had to give up our individual agency logos for the DHS seal.
I guess Big Brother wants to remind you of who is in charge. :( |
Frankly, this "transition" can't happen soon enough for me!
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We all had to give up our individual agency logos for the DHS seal.
I guess Big Brother wants to remind you of who is in charge. :( |
Originally Posted by We Will Never Forget
(Post 7861979)
We all had to give up our individual agency logos for the DHS seal.
I guess Big Brother wants to remind you of who is in charge. :( |
Originally Posted by Points Scrounger
(Post 7862006)
Frankly, this "transition" can't happen soon enough for me!
Yes thats what I say. Please tell them to leave and take their political appointees with them. |
The first job of any bureaucracy is to sustain itself. Now that we've created it you can bet we'll never get rid of the bloated DHS. With no accountability all that'll happen is those 360 spots will be used for another 360 campaign contributors as rewards for their donations.
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The article describes pretty accurately how things work in the federal government in DC. An Administration has the option of designating a senior civil service position (usually a Senior Executive Service [SES] or sometimes even a GS-15 position) as either an appointed position or a competitive position. (I'm not going to use the official names for this illustration.) I sould have said up front that there are positions that are always appointed and confirmed -- secretaries, assistant secretaries, etc. These are generally required by law to be subject to Senate confirmation. For the garden-variety SES positions, the government may change its mind every time one of these positions becomes vacant. As the article states, most agency positions directly involved with carrying out a particular administration's goals and objectives are appointed. It would be an interesting exercise to take the enormous number of DHS appointees and see how many were appointed in their old agencies. The difference between the overall number and the ones who brought their appointed positions with them would accurately tell the story.
Appointees generally view themselves as being loyal to the president rather than to the agency itself. Most agency officials view appointees as "double agents" for the administration. Ignoring the issue of whether DHS should exist or not, I believe that the DHS rank & file won't miss most of these 360 appointees for a nanosecond. The responsibilities and authorities will at least temporarily rest with the career civil servant deputies who actually have expertise necessary to get the job done. |
I think that paints too dim a view of government appointees. In most administrations, appointees are generally people who are well-skilled in either management or a substantive subject area, and are foregoing the more affluent lifestyles found in the private sector to join in something greater than themselves.
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