The Case For A Commission

Light convincingly calls upon Congress to create a new national commission to restructure the entire federal government for the 21st century. During the 50 years that have passed since the last such review, under the leadership of Herbert Hoover, "government organization" has been so transmogrified as to verge on the oxymoronic. Warren Rudman, the former senator who co-chaired the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century, should be put in charge, Light suggests. The commission Rudman co-chaired with former Sen. Gary Hart brilliantly outlined many of the structural deficiencies that have put our nation at risk in the current security crisis.

This month, we document the sorry state of affairs that exists in key agencies: conflicts in missions, lack of interagency cooperation, shortages of money and staff, inability to make changes due to resistance by Congress and interest groups, and more. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, the new director of the Office of Homeland Security, may pound the desk and issue orders until blue in the face, but he cannot overcome these structural impediments to a smoothly functioning federal government.

Evidence of agencies' organizational, staffing and other deficiencies are found everywhere one turns. There is no better example than the beleaguered Immigration and Naturalization Service. A few numbers tell the tale. There are more than 3 million people living in the United States now who have illegally overstayed their visas, according to agency estimates. Another 4.5 million immigrants are residing here having made it across the border without a visa. The INS has only 2,000 agents to investigate immigration violations, and that number is declining because headquarters has decreed that one of 10 vacancies must go unfilled to meet downsizing goals.

The INS case illustrates how politics gets in the way of effective law enforcement. INS initiatives to improve detection of illegal immigrants have been stymied by Congress, responding to pressure from meatpacking companies in the Midwest and educational institutions with substantial cohorts of foreigners on student visas, among others. The INS can't even count on local law enforcement agencies for help, in light of "sanctuary" policies adopted in many cities to thwart deportation efforts.

The State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, the subject of an article this month by Brian Friel, also has a disturbing story to tell. About 3,600 employees of the bureau, of whom 2,500 are foreign nationals, processed some 9 million applications for temporary visas last year, a number that's rising by nearly 1 million a year. Wrongdoers slip through the overworked system, in part because there is too little information-sharing among law enforcement agencies. And the bureau, like INS, has tended to favor service-that is, letting people in-rather than enforcement.

The Coast Guard and the FBI, both profiled in this issue, have been forced to pare back their traditional missions while they deal with the terrorism threat. As the Coast Guard diverted aircraft, vessels and personnel to patrol domestic ports and coastlines, 90 percent of its fisheries management mission, 75 percent of its counter-drug mission and 100 percent of its illegal immigrant intercept efforts went by the boards. Trends in demand for seafood and for oil, and projected growth in recreational boating, imply much more work for the Coast Guard during the next few years, Matthew Weinstock reports this month. The agency suffered $400 million in budget cuts from 1994 to 1998 and now its commandant, Adm. James Loy, says he simply must have more resources to do the job.

The FBI's mission creep is reflected in its current jurisdiction over 200 categories of crime. Many of these will get short shrift now that Director Robert Mueller has reassigned thousands of agents to the counterterrorism task, and some experts say the bureau should hand off some of its duties to other law enforcement agencies.

Straightening out problems like this would be part of the Rudman Commission's agenda. So would attacking problems in the nation's public health system, whose disarray is chronicled by Katherine McIntire Peters this month. At the federal level, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is starved of money needed for bioterrorism preparedness. The nation's only institution of research on countermeasures against biological weapons, at the Army's Fort Detrick in Maryland, has lost a third of its budget and staff over the past decade. Federal preparedness programs are a "fractured mess," one expert says, while at the local level, hospitals are already overwhelmed by the annual flu season.

Technology offers the promise of better ways to work, and this month's cover story by Shane Harris chronicles the rising importance of the federal market for many of the nation's leading technology companies. Technologies to fight against terrorism will be first in line. At the Justice Department, Attorney General John Ashcroft is recasting the organization chart and redirecting $2.5 billion in appropriations to the counterterrorism effort, with much of the money going to boost investment in technology. Finally this month, we bid adieu to "Political World" columnist Dick Kirschten, who has decided to move on to other writing pursuits. His insightful column, and his camaraderie, will be missed.