Examining Excellence

As his story unfolded during the long, overnight flight, I learned that he was a former Marine who had enlisted at the age of 17, with permission of parents who agreed that the Marine Corps was a way out of a troubled adolescence. He left after serving his term in the Corps, but soon missed the adventure and camaraderie of military life and so decided to get back in. He enlisted in the Army, where opportunities seemed widest for him, and entered service at Fort Bragg. In the course of one unfortunate jump during training as a paratrooper, he sustained injury to five discs in his back and was medically discharged.

He enrolled at the University of Arizona, but again missed the action and wished he were with his buddies in Afghanistan or Iraq. Then one day, a friend told him that Dyncorp, the big, federal contractor recently acquired by Computer Sciences Corp., was recruiting people for protective services assignments overseas. So here he was, this young soldier of fortune, having conquered his back injury with cortisone and refreshed his pistol and rifle skills at a Dyncorp training facility in Virginia, on his way to Dubai with a few others to await transshipment to Kabul. There, I gathered, he would become part of the protective detail for Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who already has been the target of at least one assassination attempt.

This little parable illustrates a truth about federal employment today: A federal manager often can secure excellent, cost-effective service more easily in the private sector than by struggling through the archaic personnel systems of government. The private company's employee may have been trained by government, as was my traveling companion, but now that he's out, his services can be retained for the short term on an as-needed basis. People doing protective services on behalf of Dyncorp can earn close to $140,000 a year with advanced skills and in dangerous posts. That is more than one would pay for a full-time federal employee in a similar job, but the ability to hire, fire, assign and reassign on short notice is of great value.

This kind of flexibility is an important goal of the sweeping civil service reform initiative advanced this year by the Defense Department. As Shawn Zeller reports this month, top Pentagon officials say that without reform, civilian jobs will continue to be lost at Defense as managers continue to opt for the flexibility of using contractors. Even with the reforms, University of Wisconsin professor Donald Kettl tells Zeller that the trend toward "quiet privatization" of government is likely to continue.

Both political parties "are frustrated trying to manage government," Kettl says. And there's no question that civil service problems aside, the problems are daunting.

Jason Peckenpaugh's article this month explores the difficulties of merging the big agencies that have moved into the Homeland Security Department. Shane Harris outlines the huge budget, staffing and technology problems that faced Colin Powell when he took over as secretary of State.

Harris's article, however, demonstrates that a skilled leader dedicated to building his institution can have a huge effect. State's budget has soared under Powell, its technology is moving out of the dark ages, and its Foreign Service staff is growing fast. Morale is much improved. One secret of State's success, Powell tells Harris, has been a concerted effort to develop better relations with key Congress members and staffers.

Finally, allow me to call to your attention the Service to America Medals supplement bound into the center of this issue. Government always is going to need highly talented people in the civil service, and the stories of this year's medal winners offer testimony to the excellence found in many corners of federal employment. The nine public servants we honor are terrific people doing important work on behalf of Americans.