Bill Clinton: Title King

ast year was a record-setter in more than just home runs and independent counsel reports. It also marked a new record in the number of job titles at the top of the federal government. Never have so many senior executives, political and career, occupied so many layers between the President and the front lines of government.

The proof is found in federal phone books. According to a careful coding of the Winter 1998 Federal Yellow Book, there were exactly 2,462 federal executives who carried a title built off the five most important jobs in government departments: secretary, deputy secretary, under secretary, assistant secretary, and administrator.

To its credit, the Clinton administration has kept the number of executives down. The 2,462 number is only 54 more than the administration inherited on Jan. 20, 1993, and includes 78 jobs at the newly independent Social Security Administration. Subtract the SSA jobs, and President Clinton actually slimmed down the top of the bureaucracy, a remarkable achievement given the big gains under both Reagan and Bush.

Unfortunately, the administration has been unable to stem the creation of new titles and the management layers that go with them. Since 1993, departments have attached 16 new titles to those top five jobs in government, including a stunning number of "alter ego" deputy posts, almost all of which were occupied by career civil servants. Each new layer implies more delays in bureaucratic decision-making. In 1993, there were 33 layers of management at the top. In 1998, the number had grown to 49.

Among the soon-to-be-classic new titles are deputy to the deputy secretary, principal assistant deputy under secretary, associate principal deputy assistant secretary, chief of staff to the assistant assistant secretary, deputy associate deputy secretary, assistant chief of staff to the administrator, and chief of staff to the assistant administrator-all classic deputies whose primary responsibilities are to stand in for their principals. It is hard to imagine how such alter egos contribute to greater accountability, higher performance or more presidential control. Most of the time, what these deputies contribute is more delay, inspection and pomposity by their now duly staffed bosses.

The Clinton totals would have been even higher had three titles not disappeared along the way: principal associate deputy under secretary (which had existed in Energy), associate deputy under secretary (which had existed in six departments and appears to have moved up into the deputy secretary compartment), and associate assistant administrator (12 of which had existed in Commerce). All told, the Clinton administration witnessed the creation of 19 new titles and the disappearance of three, yielding a net gain of 16. To put the numbers in historical context, this administration has created as many new titles during its six short years as the past seven administrations created over the preceding 33 years.

To be fair, only four of the new titles-deputy to the deputy secretary, chief of staff to the under secretary, assistant deputy secretary and principal associate assistant secretary-exist in more than one department. And most of the new titles are held by exactly one person per department. But if the past is prologue, expect the titles to spread. Someone will go to a conference or page through the Yellow Book and find out that someone else has a better title. That's how the title creep occurs. But for the department secretary title, which has existed since the first department was created, every title in the phone book began in just one department.

That is why it is so important to attack the titles early. Unfortunately, even as the Clinton administration appears to be watching every last morsel of head count added to the total civilian workforce, no one appears to be watching the new layers. Position management is about as popular as sitting next to a diet zealot at a wedding feast. Nevertheless, if the Clinton administration is serious about keeping the weight off, it needs to attack the layers wherever they arise. Titles are like cheesecake: It's awfully hard to stop at just one bite.