Ridge’s Challenges

ithout a doubt, the top news stories of 2002 revolved around the continuing aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

These stories focused on human tragedy and resilience in New York and on far-away places such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, all of a sudden, American interests were deeply engaged.

Washington was an important story too, as the news media focused on the problems of federal agencies, and then on the antiterrorist campaign and the administration's confrontation with Iraq.

To the national press, creation of the Homeland Security Department was mostly a political story, and interest is likely to flag now that the law is on the books. But to us at Government Executive, the most important change in federal organization in more than 50 years will offer a long list of topics to cover.

Committing the list to paper is an exercise that serves to emphasize how much more difficult it is to achieve success in the public sector than in private business, where the metrics of success concentrate on the bottom line. Tom Ridge, the new department's leader, faces challenges with no parallels in the private sector. To wit:

Culture Clash - Ridge sits atop 22 agencies from 10 departments, bringing different cultures, different pay systems, different approaches to jobs even with similar missions, such as law enforcement. What needs integration, and what doesn't?

Turf Battles - Agencies will be fighting for everything from office space to primary roles in designing and staffing administrative systems, such as finance and technology.

Modernizing Civil Service - With help from the Office of Personnel Management, Ridge will be designing new systems for hiring, paying, retaining and firing people. There's potential for huge clashes with federal labor unions.

Funding - Many people think the new department's important functions need ample resources: for example, border and transportation security, and emergency preparedness and response. How will the White House and Congress respond in the new era of big federal deficits?

Non-Security Missions - How will the new department deliver on its important non-security missions: for example, the search and rescue and boating safety functions of the Coast Guard, and the natural disaster preparedness work of the Federal Emergency Management Agency?

Outsourcing - How can the department effectively integrate 22 agencies, design a new personnel system and fight for the resources it needs while at the same time conducting the so-called "competitive sourcing" studies that are meant to hand over many thousands of jobs to the private sector?

Infrastructure Security - The department will inherit three important infrastructure security units, which have failed to make much headway. It must confront Republican reluctance to regulate the private sector and its critical infrastructure. Ridge needs some victories in this arena.

Intergovernmental Morass - The federal government must deliver on funding for emergency preparedness, and establish uniformity in approach among local service providers that are unused to federal intervention.

Data and Privacy - The FBI and CIA can't share data with each other, and state and local law enforcement need to be in the national loop. A new domestic intelligence operation could emerge, though this would escalate the already-hot privacy wars.

For those of us interested in organizational and management issues in the federal sector, 2003 promises to be a fascinating year.