Calling All Qualified Managers

I continue to be amazed at the post-Katrina push behind the notion that perhaps high-level political appointments ought to go to people who are qualified for them and have demonstrated management expertise. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for this idea. It's just that I thought we as a country had given up on it a long time ago.

This week, Slate's Fred Kaplan is again flogging a pet proposal of his: Pushing ex-GE superstar exec Jack Welch as the guy to run the Homeland Security Department. I'm not fully buying this--Welch doesn't know any more than Mike Brown about homeland security or disaster response, after all--but I agree that what DHS needs is strong, effective management. Here's what Kaplan has to say about the current DHS chief:

[Michael] Chertoff recently said, in response to criticism over his handling of Hurricane Katrina, "I'm not a hurricane expert." He's right, and nobody should expect him to be. But he was wrong in thinking that all he had to do, as a result, was to leave the task to the director of FEMA, Michael Brown. Had Chertoff been a good managerâ€"in other words, had he been a good match for his jobâ€"he would have delegated to Brown, but he also would have leaned over Brown's shoulder, asked questions, made sure that the answers made sense and that the orders were being followed. Long before Katrina happened, he would have hired assistant secretaries and chiefs of staff who knew what the right questions wereâ€"who knew at least the rudiments of the department's mission and operations.