Focus on Oversight

When things go wrong, government loves to reorganize. It sounds like action and it's easier than identifying the real cause of the problem. That observation by Charlie Peters, former editor of The Washington Monthly, seems timely as we approach the first presidential election of the terrorist era.

We already have the unwieldy Homeland Security Department, approved by Congress in a hurried reaction to the attacks of 2001 that did little to solve the key problem-lack of communication among the FBI and intelligence agencies that weren't part of the reorganization. And now we seem on the verge of having an intelligence reorganization rushed through the House and Senate in the heat of the presidential election over the deep reservations of such experts as former CIA Director George Tenet.

It may be too cynical to say that Congress members care more about voting for reorganization and "reform" than about the workability of the new structures they create. But there is plenty of room for cynicism when it comes to Congress' inability to reform its own internal structure and procedures, a failure that was put on grand display three weeks before the election.

Major agencies created by reorganizations tend to find themselves reporting to all the committees and subcommittees that have jurisdiction over their constituent parts. Homeland Security's top officers are now tap-dancing their way all over Capitol Hill, responding to far too many committees.

The 9/11 commission said: "Of all our recommendations, strengthening congressional oversight may be among the most difficult and important." But mid-October voting in Congress demonstrated that the barons of the Senate are unwilling to cede jurisdiction to create a coherent oversight scheme. The new Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee was deprived of so much jurisdiction-over the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and immigration issues, for example-that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., labeled the debate a "joke" and a "farce."

The renamed Senate committee thus will have only part of the authority needed to conduct true oversight of homeland security. But it will have enough to drain energy away from its other task: assuring accountability

in the performance of government programs and overseeing the implementation of personnel, financial management and information technology reforms. To those who care about consistent and effective organization and accountability of federal agencies, this comes as an unfortunate byproduct of the failed reform.

Now, to this issue. This month, we experiment with a first for us: a photo essay dealing with Iraq, where the toughest work of government continues. Photographs that the media usually publish from Iraq depict bombings and violence, but our photos tell about day-to-day life for American troops and civilian workers there. Also of note: Our annual technology forecast includes a pullout poster charting the major technology developments expected in 2005.