Powell wins plaudits for mobilizing management reform
Colin Powell has won his campaign to reform management at the State Department. Does it matter?
On Colin Powell's first day as secretary of State in January 2001, the celebrated former general strode into State Department headquarters in Washington. "I am not coming in just to be the foreign policy adviser to the president," Powell told a gathering of employees. "I'm coming in as the leader and manager of this department."
The department was in a sorry state, lacking staff, funds and equipment. Senior management positions sat vacant, or were filled by Foreign Service officers who lacked proper training. Diplomatic posts had no access to e-mail or the Internet.
But Powell wasn't planning a revolution. He believed radical reforms would take more energy than the limping department could muster. Instead, Powell launched a steady, systematic campaign to attack the department's management problems.
Nearing the end of President Bush's term, that campaign is widely viewed inside the department and out as a huge success. In the November issue of Government Executive, Shane Harris looks at Powell's record of success, and asks a fundamemental question: Does it matter? After all, a better-run State Department is still running into major problems making America's case abroad.
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