The Buzz

Hunted By Howard

Who's got the most thankless job in government? That's a tough call, but you could make a strong case for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell. From Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" to the racy rants of ex-DJ Bubba the Love Sponge, Powell's tenure has been marked by a series of high-profile events involving the agency's enforcement of broadcast decency standards.

Powell has no bigger nemesis than Howard Stern, who has repeatedly attacked the FCC chief on his radio show and complained about fines levied by the commission because of incidents on the program.

Up until late October, though, Powell had to deal with Stern's taunts at a distance. But then the shock jock called in to a morning show on San Francisco's KGO radio on which Powell was appearing. Stern wasted little time in making things personal, suggesting that Powell got his job only because his father was secretary of State. "Let's face it. You got to the head of the FCC, you got to the front of the class, the way George W. Bush got out of the draft-and it's completely fair for me to question," Stern said.

"I think it's a cheap shot to say just because my father's famous, I don't belong in my position," Powell shot back.

Get Off the Couch

The Office of Personnel Management has responsibility for developing a well-rounded federal workforce. But lately, the agency seems more interested in a workforce that's a little less round. This fall, OPM launched the HealthierFeds Physical Activity Challenge in an effort to get civil servants to agree to eat better and exercise 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

"In addition to the positive effects that a healthier lifestyle brings for individuals, there are public policy dividends as well," the OPM Web site promoting the program notes. "Physical activity, nutrition, preventive screenings and healthy lifestyles all reduce demand on the health care system and help contain health care costs while maintaining quality care."

The challenge started Oct. 6 and ends Dec. 10. That gave feds eight weeks to complete six weeks of increased physical activity, ranging from walking to bowling. But the program had barely gotten off the ground when OPM extended the registration date, indicating that not enough civil servants had stepped up to the plate (or maybe that should be away from the plate) and accepted the challenge to get moving.

The OPM effort is part of a broader Bush administration program called HealthierUS, which comes not a moment too soon. The National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in late October that Americans are getting bigger by the minute. The average adult weighs 25 pounds more than his or her counterpart in the early 1960s. The good news: We're an inch taller, too.

Rising Ratings

Ten federal agencies earned better grades on this quarter's score card from the Office of Management and Budget. Under OMB's rankings, green indicates success, yellow denotes mixed results and red means unsatisfactory. Six agencies improved on at least two measures.

The Labor Department earned green scores for its financial performance and e-government initiatives, both of which were rated yellow in the June third-quarter results.

The State Department went from yellow to green for its e-government and budget and performance efforts. The General Services Administration improved from yellow to green for its competitive sourcing, and from red to yellow for its e-government and budget and performance integration efforts.

"You're seeing agencies . . . beginning the difficult process of getting their hands around these problems," says Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, a Washington-based nonprofit organization. It's difficult, he notes, because agencies have been forced to deal with dramatic changes. The Homeland Security Department, for example, was formed only a year and a half ago.

"It's like driving down the highway at 60 miles per hour and retooling your engine at the same time," Stier says.

Getting to Green

Six agencies went from yellow to green in at least one category in the most recent OMB ratings.

Source: NEWSCOM

ON THE RECORD: Gen. Peter Schoomaker...

...was pulled out of retirement by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to replace Gen. Eric Shinseki as the Army's chief of staff. This fall, he sat down with National Journal's James Kitfield to talk about the challenge of heading a service that has become subject to new and severe demands.

On military transformation: I have thought for years that the Army needed to be more expeditionary. I've thought for years the Army needed to transform its personnel system, and change the way we develop leaders. I've thought for years we had to transform Army aviation. . . . We've started reorganizing into a more modular Army. . . . We canceled the Comanche [helicopter]. We accelerated the Future Combat System program. We're regenerating the ammunition base in this country. We got a decision out of [the Office of the Secretary of Defense] to give us an extra $4 billion to get us through 2004. The Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force all ponied up those funds to help the Army fight this war.

On the war in Iraq: We've had to transition to more unconventional warfare in some highly complex terrain that includes not only cities and towns, but also rivers, valleys, wetlands and desert . . . . I've been most impressed with the adaptability of our leaders and soldiers, especially the ability of relatively junior leaders to take on roles that were far beyond the traditional scope of a company or battalion commander. Those officers are running towns in Iraq, helping organize and working with civic leaders, making tough decisions day and night, even while conducting combat operations around-the-clock. . . . I think that kind of adaptability and sophistication is something we need to fold back into the batter here as we think about shaping the future Army.

On changes in training: In the past, you were measured on how you complied with doctrine and used it to organize and accomplish your objective. Today, we're designing training scenarios that put people in a continual zone of discomfort. If they start getting comfortable, perhaps because they're very good at certain tasks, then we ratchet up the pressure. . . . That's where we want them. That's how you stretch yourself. And that's the kind of organization we want the Army to be. We want an adaptive organization full of problem-solvers. We want them to know how to think, not just what to think.

On the size of the Army: The [recent] increase of 30,000 troops may very well be permanent. The future may inform us that the Army needs to grow by 50,000 people. The main point is that it's a lot easier to take an Army down like we did in the 1990s than to build it back up again.

No Respect

There are more cool federal employees on TV and in the movies than at any time in recent memory. And, it seems, the coolest are always from intelligence or law enforcement agencies. Witness the over-the-top agents of the "Counterterrorist Unit" on Fox's 24 and the dogged FBI missing-persons trackers on CBS' Without a Trace.

Shows featuring federal agents from less well-known agencies sometimes have a little fun with the relative obscurity in which they toil. Such was the case with the Oct. 26 episode of NCIS, the CBS series about the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. (This is the show formerly known by the most redundant title on television, Navy NCIS.)

On the episode, the crack NCIS team takes down a mobster, hauling him out of his car and placing him in handcuffs. He asks if they're with the FBI, leading to the following exchange:

"No, NCIS."

"Meat inspectors?"

Ouch. For the record, the meat inspectors are with FSIS, the Food Safety and Inspection Service. And as far as we know, they haven't been featured on a prime-time series-yet.