Excellence in Blogging

I'm back, and, as promised, coming to you live from Excellence in Government. It's not yet 11:00, and attendees have heard from two Cabinet secretaries already, so things are off to a pretty good start.

Homeland Security's Michael Chertoff certainly gave the impression of being obsessed with management issues--not the kind of thing you usually see in a Cabinet chief, and certainly not the case with his predecessor. (Two most frequently heard words in the speech: "structure" and "strategy.") Interesting points: Chertoff praised the work of those who set up the department, but his lengthy description of the need for an immediate "clean sheet" review of all DHS operations spoke for itself. He noted, tellingly, that more management initiatives developed as a result of the review will be coming in the months ahead.

Chertoff also turned a request from an audience member to describe the department's new MAX HR system into an opportunity to press for full funding for of the personnel overhaul. So unless the unions' lawsuit against the system is upheld, it looks like full speed ahead.

Chertoff also deftly deflected a question about why the department's chiefs of information technology, procurement and other functions have to report to an undersecretary for management, rather than Chertoff himself. He noted that he had 29 direct reports when he came on board, and that he didn't see adding more as an effective approach.