Bureaucratic Dysfunction at Walter Reed

The mess at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has already turned into a rather large black eye for the Army, and yesterday cost the commander of the facility his job. But it's worse than that: This is shaping up to be perceived as yet another example of bureaucratic failure on the part of a large federal institution. Witness this column yesterday in Slate by Phillip Carter, a Los Angeles attorney, former Army officer and Iraq veteran. Key quote :

Military bureaucracies (and their civilian brethren like the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency) also do a terrible job of reacting to crises. Large bureaucracies like the Army provide a systematic, uniform, mediocre response to chronic problems. But where time is of the essence, bureaucracies often fail spectacularly. On the NewsHour With Jim Lehrer last week, [Army Surgeon General Kevin] Kiley tried to deflect blame by calling the mess at Walter Reed "a very large, complex process," which required a nuanced approach to bureaucratic, medical, and contractual problems. But such a bureaucratic response misses the point when the bureaucracy itself is the enemy, as it is for the soldiers in Building 18.

Kiley's also the guy who called the recent Washington Post series uncovering conditions at the facility a "one-sided representation." (Thanks to Danger Room for the tip on this one.)