THE FEDERAL
BUREACRACY
Examining the “Fourth Branch”
bureaucracy
• literally
means “rule
by desks”
• government
by clerks
bureaucracy
Definition: an administrative
system, especially in a
government, that divides work
into specific categories carried
out by special departments of
non-elected officials
Characteristics of a
Bureaucracy
• administration of
government through
departments
• consists of unelected often
highly trained
professionals
• task specialization
• hierarchical authority
Introduction
• Classic conception of bureaucracy (Max
Weber)—a hierarchical authority structure
that use task specialization, operates on the
merit principle, and behaves with
impersonality
• Bureaucracies govern modern states.
Public Perceptions
of Bureaucracies
• impersonal
• inclined to follow
rigid or complex
procedures
• may stifle
effectiveness and
innovation
• “red tape”
The Bureaucrats

Some Bureaucratic Myths and Realities

Americans dislike bureaucrats.


Bureaucracies are growing bigger each year.


Not in the federal bureaucracy.
Most federal bureaucrats work in Washington,
D.C.


Americans are generally satisfied with bureaucrats.
Only about 12 percent do.
Bureaucracies are ineffective, inefficient, and
always mired in red tape.

No more so than private businesses.
The Federal Bureaucracy is:
4 million employees; 2.8 million are
civilians or “civil servants”
 President only appoints 3% (patronage or
political appointments)
 15 cabinet level departments
 200+ independent agencies with 2,000+
bureaus, divisions, branches, etc.
 Biggest - Dept. of Defense, U.S. Postal
Service, Veterans Administration

The Bureaucrats
The Bureaucrats
What Jobs Do Bureaucrats
Do?
Source: www.edmonds.wednet.edu/mths/ClassActivities/
Brzovic/policeymakersChapters12-16/
The Bureaucrats
• Who They Are
– Most demographically representative part of government
– Diversity of jobs mirrors the private sector
Who are the “Bureaucrats?”
•
•
•
•
97% are career government employees
Only 10% live in the D.C. area
30% work for the D.O.D.
Less than 15% work for social
welfare
agencies
• Most are white collar workers:
secretaries, clerks, lawyers,
inspectors
& engineers
• Civil employees more diverse
demographically than Congress
The Bureaucrats
• How They Got There
• Civil Service: From Patronage to Protection
• Patronage: job given for political reasons
• Civil Service: system of hiring and promotion based
on merit and nonpartisanship, created by the
Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)
• Merit Principle: entrance exams and promotion
ratings to find people with talent and skill
• Hatch Act: prohibits government employees
prohibited from active participation in partisan
politics
The Bureaucrats
• How They Got There
• Civil Service: From Patronage to Protection
• Office of Personnel Management: the federal office in charge
of most of the government’s hiring
• General Schedule (GS) rating: a schedule for federal
employees ranging from GS 1 to 18, by which salaries can be
keyed to rating and experience
• Senior Executive Service: an elite cadre of about 9,000 federal
government managers established by the Civil Service Reform
Act of 1978; mostly career officials
The Bureaucrats
• How They Got There
• The Other Route to Federal Jobs: Recruiting
from the Plum Book
• Lists the very top jobs available for Presidential
appointment
• Presidents work to find capable people to fill the
positions.
• Some plum jobs (ambassadorships) are patronage.
• Their most important trait is transience.
Functions of the Federal Bureaucracy
1. Implementation - carry out laws of Congress,
executive orders of the POTUS (ex: executive order
establishing the President's Economic Recovery
Advisory Board (PERAB))
2. Administration - routine administrative work; provide
services (ex: SSA sends social security checks to
beneficiaries)
3. Regulation - issue rules and regulations that impact
the public (ex: EPA sets clean air standards)
Source:
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/studyguides/subjects/am_gov/chap6/a0606401.asp
The Federal Bureaucracy
Consists of
1. Cabinet Departments
2. Independent Executive Agencies
3. Independent Regulatory
Commissions
4. Government Corporations
How Bureaucracies Are Organized
Executive Office of the
President
• Several separate agencies staffed by some
of the POTUS’ closest advisors.
• President’s Chief of Staff directs all of the
operations of the White House.
• Staff also includes the press secretary,
legal counsel and personal physician.
Executive Office of the President
President also has a National the Security
Council (NSC). They advise the POTUS on
all matters, foreign or domestic, that relate to
the nation’s Security. Members include:
• VP
• Sec’y of State
• Sec’y of Defense
• CIA Director
• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
How Bureaucracies Are Organized
The Cabinet Departments
• 15 cabinet departments headed by a cabinet secretary
appointed by the POTUS and approved by the
Senate
• Each department “expert” in specific policy area
• Each department has its own budget
• “Going native”-when Cabinet members place agency
priorities above the President’s
• Department of Homeland Security, created in 2002,
is newest department
Department of Homeland Security
Executive Secretary
Commandant of
Coast Guard (1)
Legislative Affairs
Secretary
Inspector General
---------------------------------Public Affairs
Deputy Secretary
General Counsel
State and Local Coordination
Special Assistant to the Secretary
(private sector)
Citizenship &
Immigration Service
Ombudsman (1)
National Capital Region Coordination
Chief of Staff
Director, Bureau of Citizenship
& Immigration Services (1)
Director of the
Secret Service (1)
Small & Disadvantaged
Business
Privacy Officer
International Affairs
Shared Services
Under Secretary
Management
Civil Rights and
Civil Liberties
Counter Narcotics
Under Secretary
Science and Technology
Note (1): Effective March 1st, 2003
Under Secretary
Information Analysis and
Infrastructure Protection
Under Secretary
Border &
Transportation Security
Under Secretary
Emergency
Preparedness and
Response
How Bureaucracies Are
Organized
Independent Agencies
Some independent because:
• Their function didn’t fit well into an
existing department
• To protect their officials from political
pressure
• Of a peculiar/sensitive nature or function
Independent Executive Agencies
• Established by Congress with separate
status outside the executive branch
• Given a specific mandate and generally
perform a service function, not a
regulatory one.
• Some examples include: Social Security
Administration, CIA, NASA, EPA.
Independent Regulatory Commissions
• IRCs exist to regulate a specific economic activity or
interest ie) the Federal Communications Commission
(public air waves) or Federal Reserve Board (banking
system, money supply)
• IRCs operate independently from Congress and the
President
• Once appointed and seated, members cannot be
removed without cause
• Quasi-legislative powers used in rule making &
regulatory functions & have force of law behind them
Independent Regulatory Commissions
• Largely beyond presidential influence or control
• Other examples: Federal Trade Commission (FTC),
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Government Corporations
• Government owned businesses created by
Congress
• Handle functions usually carried out by the
private sector
• May or may not be profitable, but serve a
public need
• Ex: U.S. Postal Service, Amtrak, Tennessee
Valley Authority, Corporation for Public
Broadcasting
Bureaucracies as Implementers
• What Implementation Means
• Translating the goals and objectives of a policy
into an operating, ongoing program
• Implementation includes:
• Creating and assigning an agency the policy
• Translating policy into rules, regulations and forms
• Coordinating resources to achieve the goals
• Stage of policymaking that takes place between
establishment and consequences of a policy
Bureaucracies as Implementers
• Why the Best-Laid Plans Sometimes Flunk
the Implementation Test
• Program Design
• Lack of Clarity
• Congressional laws are ambiguous and imprecise.
• Sometimes the laws conflict with each other.
• Lack of Resources
• Agencies may be big, but may not have staff to
carry out policy goals.
Bureaucracies as Implementers
• Why the Best-Laid Plans Sometimes Flunk
the Implementation Test
• Lack of Resources (continued)
• Many different types of resources are needed:
personnel, training, supplies, and equipment
• May also lack the authority to act
• Administrative Routine
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) bring
uniformity to complex organizations.
• It is often difficult to change the routines.
Bureaucracies as Implementers
• Why the Best-Laid Plans Sometimes Flunk the
Implementation Test
• Administrator’s Dispositions
• Administrative discretion is the authority to select among
various responses.
• Street-level bureaucrats have the most discretion.
• Discretion is greatest where SOPs are not prevalent.
• Fragmentation
• Some policies are spread among several agencies.
• Some agencies have different rules for the same policy.
Bureaucracies as Regulators
• Regulation in the Economy and in Everyday
Life
• Regulation: use of governmental authority to
control or change some practice in the private
sector
• A Full Day of Regulation
• Federal agencies check, verify, and inspect many of
the products and services we take for granted.
• Federal and state agencies provide many services.
Bureaucracies as Regulators
• Regulation: How It Grew, How It Works
• All regulation contains these elements:
• A grant of power and set of directions from
Congress
• A set of rules and guidelines by the regulatory
agency itself
• Some means of enforcing compliance with
congressional goals and agency regulations
Bureaucracies as Regulators
• Regulation: How It Grew, How It Works
• Command-and-Control Policy: The government
tells business how to reach certain goals, checks
the progress, and punishes offenders.
• Incentive System: market-like strategies used to
manage public policy
• Some agencies are proactive; some are reactive.
Bureaucracies as Regulators
• Toward Deregulation
• Deregulation: the lifting of restrictions on
business, industry, and professional activities
• Regulatory problems:
• Raises prices
• Hurts U.S.’s competitive position abroad
• Does not always work well
• But some argue regulation is needed
The President Supervises the
Bureaucracy
The President can:
• appoint & remove
agency heads
• reorganize the
bureaucracy
President Bush speaks about his budget
priorities for FY 2007
• issue executive orders
• reduce an agency's
budget
Understanding Bureaucracies
• Bureaucracy and Democracy
• Presidents Try to Control the Bureaucracy
• Appoint the right people
• Issue executive orders
 Carry force of law and are used to implement policies
• Alter an agency’s budget
• Reorganize an agency
 Creation of Department of Homeland Security
Congress Oversees the Bureaucracy
Congress can:
• create or abolish agencies
& departments
• cut or reduce funding
• investigate agency activities
• hold committee hearings
• pass legislation that alters an
agency's functions
• influence or even fail to confirm
presidential appointments
Former FEMA Chief Michael Brown testifies before
House committee investigating Hurricane Katrina
Understanding Bureaucracies
• Bureaucracy and Democracy
• Congress Tries to Control the Bureaucracy
• Influence appointment of agency heads
 Senate confirms presidential nominees
• Alter an agency’s budget
• Hold oversight hearings
• Rewrite legislation or make it more detailed
Federal Courts Check the Bureaucracy
Federal courts can:
• through judicial review
rule on whether the
bureaucracy has acted
within the law and the
U.S. Constitution
• provide due process for
individuals affected by
a bureaucratic action
Supreme Court of the United States
Understanding Bureaucracies
• Bureaucracy and Democracy
• Iron Triangles and Issue Networks
• Iron Triangles: a mutually dependent relationship
between bureaucratic agencies, interest groups, and
congressional committees or subcommittees
• Exist independently of each other
• They are tough, but not impossible, to get rid of
• Some argue they are being replaced by wider issue
networks that focus on more than one policy.
Understanding Bureaucracies
Understanding Bureaucracies
• Bureaucracy and the Scope of Government
• The size of federal bureaucracy is an example of a
government out of control.
• Even though the size of the bureaucracy has shrunk
• Some agencies don’t have enough resources to do what
they are expected to do.
• Bureaucracy only carries out policies; Congress and the
president decide what needs to be done.
Summary
• Bureaucrats shape policy as administrators,
implementers, and regulators.
• Bureaucracy’s primary responsibility is the
implementation of public policy.
• Federal bureaucracy has not grown but has
in fact shrunk of late.