Bureaus and agencies administer the laws and regulations passed by Congress. They also administer executive orders issued by the President. They were created out of necessity. No one man or woman can effectively oversee the daily control necessary to ensure the laws and rules are carried out. The people that manage these departments are not elected. They have been hired based on experience or favoritism. They have been appointed based on nepotism or party affiliation. In most cases the actual controlling management have been on the job for a long period of time. They are skilled at managing and manipulating the established system as well as maintaining a protective shield against political climate change. They know which way the wind blows.
As a result of the embedded bureaucratic structure, elected officials such as congressmen, governors, mayors, and even presidents are at the mercy of those who run and control these bureaus and agencies. Presidential appointments, especially at the cabinet and department head levels are merely figureheads. They generally have no understanding of system processes or managerial requirements in the department they are appointed to. The departments are so large even someone with strong administrative skills will flounder in their attempt to control. They need to rely on those bureaucrats with well-established experience on the job, to tell them the truth and to push through the decisions made by the President. Congressmen pass laws, but few if any are involved in the administration of the laws and are generally oblivious to many bureaucratic regulations that are enacted to support a law. Good intentions of a law that is passed are many times thwarted by unforeseen regulations that cause more harm than good.
The Civil Service Act of 1883 provided protection for non-elected federal employees. It is nearly impossible to fire a federal employee. Egregious infractions are generally dealt with by reassignment or demotion. Once a bureaucrat is well established then agency politics and occasionally merit are the means used for promotion, influence and pay increases. It is these well-established mid-level and senior management bureaucrats that direct or deflect based on the political climate of the day.
Probably the biggest obstacle that a President has in implementing his agenda is dealing with the government bureaucracy. Just ask Donald Trump. The so called “Swamp” consists of bureaucrat seepage into every aspect of government administration with political snakes guarding their territory with hubris and avarice. They are capable of delay, obfuscation, deceit, and denial. Redaction is a well-used method of bureaucrats. Classifying documents that have little reason for classification is a popular agency stall. Political pushback and insider bribery are commonplace. And for those that think only congressman are influenced by lobbyists, think again. Bureaucrats are common recipients of the largess offered by lobbyists. There is no reporting requirement for non-elected bureaucrats. Influential bureaucrats have significant power over congressional neophytes and seasoned dealmakers. They know how to get “things” through the system. Just tell them what you want. They’ll tell you what they need and the dance begins. New laws create new regulations which create new administration functions. Bureaucracy expands with more influence and power.
Bureaucrats are well skilled in stonewalling. If you happen to watch any congressional hearings you see how effective bureaucrats are in delaying or denying requests for information. Methods, such as, “that information is classified,” or “we will get back to you with that information,” or “that is not in my purview,” or a frequently used “I am not aware therefore, I don’t know,” are used to prevent any further investigation that might expose incompetence or deceit. These methods are used by mid-level and senior managers as well as department or agency leaders. Although many congressmen grow frustrated with the lack of answers and cooperation, the end result is that they have no recourse against this obfuscation. Even with subpoena power they do not have the ability to press charges against the bureaucrat. Impeaching a department head, as they are trying to do with Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, turns the whole matter into a political issue where the stonewalling is exacerbated.
Many agency and department heads are only the caretakers of the narrative of the political power that is in office. Managing the productivity and changing the systemic procedures of the agency are beyond their skill level. When you see current cabinet heads such as Mayorkas, Pete Buttigieg, Jennifer Granholm, Merrick Garland, and Lloyd Austin, to name a few, they clearly are not experienced administrators, but are highly skilled in providing information that enhances the narrative and political purpose of the party in power. There is no effort to improve or streamline the bureaucracy because that would decrease the power that they covet.
There is no easy solution to curbing the influence of the bureaucracy in our government. The power that these non-elected individuals have is enormous. We need answers and accountability concerning decisions that have been made. Who decided to leave billions of dollars of military equipment behind in Afghanistan? Who decided not to require accountability of all the foreign aid given to fight the Ukrainian war? Who decided to allow our borders to become sieves? Who decided to allow our country’s debt to run amuck? Who decided to pay illegals’ room, board, and travel with taxpayer dollars? The easy answer is Biden. The real answer is the bureaucrats who control the speed and implementation, the process and the procedures, the money flow and the personnel. The decisions and the advice given by the bureaucrats to the “so-called” leadership control what happens, when it happens, and if it happens.
Under our constitutional form of government, the only way to correct this problem is for the people to demand and insist that Congress pass laws that give them the power to overhaul the existence and the operations of these agencies. Begin the process of requiring them to operate as businesses do. Budgeting, administration, productivity, and accountability determine the effectiveness and worth of an agency’s existence. We always say that this country is run by the people, not the politicians. We elect our representatives. We don’t elect the bureaucrats who control the politicians. The power our current system gives to these non-elected governmental oligarchs must be taken away from them and given back to the people. Until then, we are at the mercy of this power-elite cabal.