[War] US: Carving at the Plum Book

[pentaj2 at Scranton.edu]

"Carving at the Plum Book"
30 October 2006
Pres. John Williams
USA
=====================

POTUS was, though too modest to admit it, something of a showman. 
Beneath his serious and all-business exterior was something of a 
goofball, unhesitant to approach his work with a sense of humor, to 
make a dramatic entrance.

And so it was that the President's entrance was signaled by a thick 
book with a plum-colored cover flying into the Oval Office from the 
study, landing precisely on the table between those currently there 
with a thud.

"Principal Deputy Assistant Deputy Undersecretary. Not a real position 
title, folks, but I would be unsurprised were it to be created," 
President Williams began.

"There are, according to this, *one thousand, one hundred, and fifty-
seven* positions filled by Presidential appointment, subject to Senate 
confirmation. A further 320 are filled by Presidential appointment, 
but without Senate confirmation," he continued, as he raised a hand to 
keep everyone from standing and walked towards the group.

"Now, as I understand it, Presidential appointment means that the 
President - in other words, me or one of my predecessors - has, in 
theory, some personal knowledge of the appointee. Even if it's maybe 
only a 30 or 45 minute interview."

Williams sat down gently in the lone unoccupied chair, looking at the 
others in the room; Josh Bolten, the Chief of Staff; Liza Wright, the 
head of the Presidential Personnel office, and the director of OMB, 
Rob Portman.

"I think we all know that that can't happen. It's just not sane. 
Besides that, what we have right now is complete madness. Every 2 to 4 
years, the top four or *five* layers of the government turn over as 
political appointees move in and out. You can't get things down with 
that sort of a setup, and everybody in this room knows it."

"So how do we change it?" Bolten asked. The looks on people's faces 
said they had an inkling of what might be coming.

"We blow it to hell," Williams replied matter-of-factly.

"I intend to put this to the new Congress ASAP, so, Josh, grab *both* 
sides of the aisle.

"Below the level of Assistant Secretary, in just about every cabinet 
department, positions will be occupied by Career Appointees. 
Exceptions will be Chiefs of Mission at State. That carves out about 
25 percent of the appointments.

"Now, how I see the positions from the Deputy Secretaries on downwards.

"The Deputy Secretary is the second-in-command of the Department. 
There will be one Deputy Secretary per department.

"Under Secretaries deal with various divisions of the department's 
responsibilities.

"Assistant Secretaries go under them, and are further specialized. I 
strongly recommend that these be career appointees.

"There will be no Deputy Under Secretaries. The Assistant Secretaries 
will be the successors to them.

"With that said: I intend on asking Congress to change the law by a 
lot. The Commissioner of the FDA, Commissioner of Social Security 
Administration, the various heads of independent agencies?

"I intend to ask Congress to make these positions appointed by the 
President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a fixed-
term. Not at the pleasure of the President, to enter and exit with 
every administration.

"I will ask, furthermore, that the same be applied to US Attorneys and 
US Marshals, who should be appointed for a minimum of six years.

"Specialized positions, like the Commissioner of FDA, Commissioner of 
Social Security, the NASA Administrator, the IRS Commissioner, and so 
forth, should have longer terms, preferably of 7, 10, or 14 years.

"The Surgeon General will, ex officio, be posted as the Assistant 
Secretary for Health, and will be commissioned with the rank of 
Admiral in the Public Health Service."

POTUS looked over the three before him. "Thoughts?" he asked mildly.

"Cutting patronage. Why shoot yourself in the foot like that?" Bolten 
asked.

"Because I have no machine to support, unlike my predecessors. Why 
not? If we can make it so that the process of staffing the 
Administration actually *ends*, we'll have done some good," Williams 
noted with a smile.

"Wow, idealism. I thought that was dead in Washington," Rob Portman 
noted with a smile.

"Not entirely, no."
----
Actions:

1. Massive changes to top-level hiring in the Federal Government, with 
POTUS pitching this vigorously to Congress for necessary statutory 
changes.
2. All positions below Assistant Secretary will be filled by non-
political appointees, preferably career people. Exception: Chiefs of 
Mission at State Dept.
3. Surgeon-General will be, ex officio, the Assistant Secretary for 
Health in HHS; As such, he will be commissioned a full Admiral (O-10) 
in the US Public Health Service. It's been done for the last few, now 
being made permanent.
4. Commissioner of the IRS, Commissioner of the FDA, Commissioner of 
the Social Security Administration to be appointed henceforth to fixed 
terms, as will the Administrator of NASA and the heads of similar 
independent agencies.
5. Top-level -Secretary positions to be rationalized. Assistant 
Secretaries should, preferably, be career appointees, not to leave 
with the President (or beforehand). Some exceptions exist (see the 
Surgeon General).
6. US Attorneys and US Marshals to be appointed to fixed terms of 6 
years, renewable, instead of being appointed at the pleasure of the 
president.